Somewhere
by Rainstorm-Mosspath
Summary: Tidus has faded and Yuna is looking for him. When she falls into the Farplane she finds another world, but it is in turmoil with its very centre being the cause of the chaos. What is the signifigance of her world in this one's trauma? T For safety.
1. Prologue

I wrote this purely because I was bored and couldn't be bothered to do my French homework =P I have no idea where the idea came from…as for this idea…don't ask…it MAY be a 10/7 but saying it as a 10-2/7 I like changed 10-2 a bit…anyway Summary: Tidus has faded and Yuna is looking for him, but what she doesn't know is that Tidus has reappeared on another world, when Yuna gets thrown into the Far-plane and a mysterious figure leads her onwards she has hopes of finding him. But how long will this take and what about her friends back in Spira?

_Why did you have to fade away?  
>What was wrong with the people you left behind?<br>Why did you jest about going to Zanarkand?  
>Why did you play with my heart?<br>How long did you keep this secret?  
>Didn't you trust me?<br>Why did you pretend that you loved me even though we could never be together?  
>During that kiss were you sad?<br>How did you hide it from me?  
>Why did you lie?<br>I don't want to believe that you lied… I can't believe that you lied! You told me all those fantastic stories…made me believe.  
>After all that time… Even after you left I called and called… I truly believed you would return to me. I couldn't believe that you would just disappear forever… I keep your face in my mind so I will never forget. Your last words, your last look at me… I want to keep them forever.<br>I remember how you said you would stay with me always, but now you've gone… and… and I don't know what to do…I want to see you so much… I call and call our special signal, hoping you'll hear. Wishing for a miracle, for you to appear. But deep in my heart I know you can't… that you've left me… left me forever... I must never, never forget…_

_Forget what you did for me,  
>that you came for me,<br>you actually cared for me,  
>it wasn't your fault that you left.<br>And most of all, I must never forget the love I felt for you._

Yuna sighed and looked down at her hands, it had been two years since Tidus had faded away and the pain in her chest had lessened none. She wasn't a Summoner any more, she was a sphere hunter, looking for spheres however was a front, she was looking for Tidus.

"Yunie…" Rikku laid a hand on Yuna's shoulder her swirling green eyes sympathetic.

"Huh?"

"You were all spaced out again. Thinking about him?" Paine's cherry eyes swept Yuna up and down critically.

"Yes…but I'm fine. Let's…let's go on." Yuna turned her back on the memories for a moment. She must continue to search, and NEVER give up.

Sounds drifted to Tidus' ears. He realised he was curled in a ball, why he had no idea, and then it all came back. Defeating Yu Yevon and his…fading…Tidus opened his eyes to find himself in a cave, lit by what seemed to be blue crystals. _Why am I here? Is this like some alternate life? Is there MORE…?_ Tidus stretched and got up from the ground he stepped forward and realised that pools of water surrounded him. He sighed.

Tidus stepped forward not caring if he got wet and soon there was daylight streaming in. he grinned and ran forwards and out into the sun. He took a deep breath and looked around at the blank expanse of what looked kinda like the desert. But it had slightly more greenery than Bikanel, he didn't know where he was, but he could see what looked like a city in the distance, if he headed for that someone might be able to tell him where he was.

"Where do you think it goes Yunie?" Rikku whispered into Yuna's ear.

"I think it's the Farplane…"

"Want to go down?" Muttered Paine.

"Nu uh!" Rikku hummed. There was a crash behind them and the fallen Machina slash Aeon was struggling up,

"Yuna!" Paine cried.

"What? Ah!" Yuna was knocked down into the hole by a stray lightning bolt zapped off by the creature.

_I'm falling…_

"Don't be afraid, I can take you to who you seek." A soft voice came from somewhere within the light.

"Who…who are you?"

"Never mind me, follow and you will be able to meet those who have gone." Yuna's heart fluttered.

"Tidus? You can take me to Tidus!"

"Yes, follow and you will see him again."

"But what about Rikku and Paine?"

"I am sure your friends will wait for you." Yuna looked down then nodded.

"Show me to him."

"Very well…but you will only be near him. Not with him…"

"What?"

"You must find him yourself."

"Ok…"

Yuna and the mysterious woman walked away into the fog and before long there was another light, daylight on the horizon.

"Thank you!" Yuna cried and turned to the woman, but she was gone. "Oh…"

She stepped forward and out into the sun light.

A/N

Just so you know the cave with the crystals is the cave where Lucrecia is…and the hole to the Far-plane is the one they find in X-2…but I couldn't find the correct lines to that…sorry, but just imagine it! And, Please tell me what you thought, even if you think it's the biggest piece of **** you ever read! But if you DO have a good word then please say that as well! =P also I accept non-signed in reviews so if you don't have a user still please review!

No prizes for guessing who the 'mysterious woman is' =P


	2. Chapter 1

**EDIT: **_**Ok. These first few chapters are really bad, I wrote them AGES ago, but the later chapters are much better, I just don't want to re write these in case I miss anything.**_

Uh…I don't know where this came from…like RANDOM, it was funny though, on the way back from Mosspath's house we had this argument about how Tidus would NOT be found by Vincent and Yuna would NOT be found by Vincent, because I don't know but Mosspath was just having a random spazzy moment…anyway on with the story! Oh and just…so you know, Yuna still has her summon staff…which just makes my life so much easier…eugh, and uh…where do they keep their weapons? 'cause when they walk around…NO WEAPONS stumbles across and enemy, they have weapons! So…yeah…don't. Blame. Me.

Paine and Rikku looked down the entrance to the Farplane that Yuna had fallen down.

"Yunie…" Rikku whispered.

"I wonder if she's ok..." Paine murmured

"Of course she is!"

"Rikku! Look out!" Paine had a sudden feeling of Déjà Vu as the walls rumbled and the floor shook.

"Woah!" Rikku exclaimed as she tripped and teetered on the edge of the hole.

Paine tried to move to get her but a part of the wall had fallen on her leg. Paine watched helplessly as Rikku fell in the same way Yuna had.

"Paine?" Rikku looked around, there was no Paine, and instead she found herself surrounded by whiteness. A tall figure was striding towards her. She couldn't see his face, but she could hear him.

"Your looking for someone aren't you?"

"Yeh…I'm looking for Tidus, but then Yunie fell so I guess I'm looking for both of them!"

"I thought so, anyway if you wanna find them, just go forward,"

"You mean they'll just be there?"

"Is anything in life ever that simple?"

"I wish…" Rikku sighed.

"No, but you'll be near them, just follow your heart…oh great…I sound like her now! DAMNIT!"

"Uh…thanks?" Rikku raised an eyebrow at the mans weird statements.

"Don't mention it, anyway…I hope you find them!" the shadowy figure walked off.

"That was weird…hey!" Rikku stepped forwards somehow, seeing as she was floating, and she was almost blinded and had the feeling of falling.

Rikku looked around for the second time that day, but instead of being surrounded by whiteness she was surrounded by water, and behind her was a weird structure of white twisted stuff…whether metal or wood, she couldn't be sure. Further out across the water where weird white trees,

"Those CANNOT be real…but then, I suppose there's the Moonflow to compare to…meh…but…more importantly where am I? And did you know talking to yourself isn't a good thing Rikku? Oh great I'm like REALLY talking to myself, properly, if you get me, I mean I addressed myself, ok, I'm just gonna shut up now. Yeh that would be good. Shut up Rikku…" Rikku shook her head and laughed at her own stupidity. She started walking through the water towards the strange white trees, the moon glowed above. "HEY! It's just like the Moonflow! Here's the water, here's the weird trees and there's the glowy moon! It's just like the night…where…Yuna decided…" Rikku trailed off again. She continued through the water until she came out the other side, "Where am I?" She said again. "I mean, I've been all round Spira, never found anywhere like this…"

"What are you doing here?" Rikku jumped as a deep voice sounded from her right hand side.

"EEP! I-uh…I don't know…I was looking for my cousin Yunie, then I fell into the Far plane, then I was in like whiteness and there was a guy, he told me to step forward and find them or something like that, then I was just HERE and then I walked forwards like they said but no Yunie, no Paine and you just SCARED ME!" Rikku panted for breath. She then turned her head to one side to look at the man, he was wearing all black except for a red headband and cape, he had a sharp gold gauntlet on his left hand.

"Who are you?" He asked. His mouth was obscured by the edge of his cape, he reminded Rikku of Auron.

"I'm Rikku!" She said cheerfully,

"Hmph." He turned away again.

"Wait! Can you please help me?" Rikku cried out to him. She needed to find Yuna and Paine, she didn't care how.

"What?"

"Will you help me find my friends?" Rikku was tentative.

"I can show you to someone who can help you." He hardly looked at her.

"THANK YOU!" Rikku bounced up and down. "So…what's your name?"

"Vincent." And he walked off. Rikku tipped her head on one side before bouncing off after him.

"Sooo….where we going?" Vincent winced at her constant speech.

"I'm taking you to see some friends of mine."

"Oooh! Cool, and how can they help?"

"They know a lot of people…" He sighed.

"Cool! I know a lot of people! I guess it's 'cause we travel quite a bit! I mean, I've been all round the world! Like twice! First was like two years ago…that kinda ended well…but not well, if you get me, then just recently, we've been looking for Tidus, did I already say that? But yeh, thanks for helping me! I'd be so worried about them otherwise! Well, I am worried about them! But not as much knowing that someone can help me! You know Yuna right? I mean everyone knows Yuna! O high Summoner Yuna, that got annoying…I mean all we wanted to do was lead a peaceful, yeah right, life and find Tidus, but nooo, wherever we went they would know us! Yeah ok, it was kinda useful sometimes because people would help us! One of the joys of being a Guardian and Summoner I suppose, but then…" Rikku chatted on and on and Vincent just shook his head and sighed, trust him to find another Yuffie…

A/N

And again…no prizes for guessing who the 'mysterious man' is… I know I rushed this chapter a bit…but that's what happens when you listen to a fast song, or are watching Numb3rs…especially when said Numb3rs has Riku's voice actor in…-shudder- Seriously, I cannot watch ANYTHING without having David Gallagher being in it! Which isn't my fault he likes to be in crime programs…anyway back on subject…. Please review…


	3. Chapter 2

_**EDIT: This is another of my badly written chapters, please bear with! **_

-Sigh- so after that fiasco of a chapter I've tried hard to bring you a good chapter! But…that's not saying much…I really suck at writing serious stories…my most popular story by far has been my humour story! So…well…just read…-shakes head- oh and…just…so you know, I'm twisting the events of 7 and 10 to fit the story…just…go with it…It's basically moving X-2 and placing it side by side with Advent Children...which has also been changed slightly...¬.¬

Thanks to all reviewers ;D

Tidus had clambered down the slope and wandered over the dusty ground. There were weird stones sticking up all over the place, they reminded him of the Lightning Towers on Thunder Plains. Only it was dry and hot not dark and cold. And there was certainly no lightning. The sun was very bright though and as Tidus moved round a rock he saw a flash, at first he wondered whether it was lightning, but it wasn't the right kind of flash, it was more like sun on metal. Tidus started towards where the flash had been, he was right about it being sun on metal, it was a large sword, stuck into the hard earth.

"What's a sword doing out here?" Tidus murmured to himself. He walked up to it; it was thick and heavy looking, with weird marks in it. Something behind the sword caught Tidus' attention; it was a city, or what was left of a city, there were tall buildings with sides collapsed, it looked abandoned, Tidus squinted and saw past the ruined city there was another, he couldn't quite make it out properly but maybe, there was civilisation there, the only thing was, that Tidus didn't know where he was, he knew most of Spira, but not all, he supposed he was in a region he hadn't visited on Yuna's Pilgrimage.

"Well, let's try there then…"

Tidus had walked for a quite a while and he was still only half the distance towards the ruined city, he was thankful for his outfit giving him some respite from the heat. But man, was he thirsty? And more HUNGRY. He felt like he hadn't eaten in DAYS. Oh yeah, he hadn't. But Tidus kept walking; if he managed to get to the city he could find food! Although there was the small matter of whether there was any life in the place…

"Just my luck, as if being dragged through like whoever knows how many different dimension stupid things and travelling round the world, mainly walking, imprisonment, DEATH, and all that jazz, whatever deity is actually not EVIL, who I have since decided is evil, because no nice person would condemn a poor soul like me to wonder across a seemingly never ending desert with a glaring hot sun, no food or water and maybe not even civilisation! WHAT did I do to deserve this?" Tidus paused for breath. " And that made no sense at all…" He looked upwards and shook his fist. "SEE! OH CRUEL WORLD!" Tidus screamed. "Gah…just keep walking Tidus…" And he did,

It was just starting to get darker, and cooler, as Tidus arrived at the edge or the ruins. "Gee this brings back memories…makes me feel like I'm seeing Zanarkand all over again, except…there's no Yuna…" Tidus sighed and shook his head. Then perked up slightly. " Right now, priority number one! Find Yuna!" With that thought in mind Tidus headed down into the city, or…what was left of it.

Yuna opened her eyes to find herself lying surrounded by ruined buildings, her first thought was that she was in Zanarkand, those were the only ruins she knew of, but the buildings weren't right, plus these looked newer and less run down, Zanarkand was 1000 years old, this place didn't look that, despite all the rubble, it was definitely newer.

"What?" She murmured. The lady had told her that she could find Tidus! Perhaps this was…well, she didn't quite know, but she was certain she'd find Tidus, but she knew that nothing was as simple as all that, so she checked herself to make sure she had weapons, she had her guns and her staff, what could go wrong? Well, a lot of things, generally she was used to having lots of friends beside her, either Rikku and Paine or all her Guardians, but right now…it was just her.

"First step, find somewhere to stay…" She whispered. This abandoned city was no place for her too stay.

It got dark quite quickly as Yuna travelled round the city, she had got lost several times, but because of the landmarks in the place she had eventually found the right way again. She shivered, although it was not that cold, it was creepy, these ruins reminded her all to much of Zanarkand, and then onwards to Tidus. She hung her head.

"Tidus…" She whispered.

"Yuna…" Tidus whispered, he had reached the city and was now walking round it, looking for some signs of life, but everything was dark and mysterious, it wasn't night yet however, it was still dusk, but scary none-the-less. It reminded him all too much of Zanarkand. His home. The ruins he had seen with his own eyes, that he had seen a few weeks before that, whole. But the Zanarkand he had known had been an imitation… a Dream…Tidus shook his head and continued walking.

It was dark when he found the giant building at the centre of the abandoned city. He ran his hands along it, and could feel, what felt like; slash marks, maybe from battles and swords. Which meant there had been living people here! Maybe there still were! Tidus ran his hand along the building, running round it.

Yuna had got to the centre of the city, but it was dark now, she could see a looming shape though, and knew it too be the large building that had been in the middle of the ruins. She placed her hand on the side of it, and felt long ruts in the stone, almost as if a battle had been fought there, and swords had carved into the building, but they must have been extremely strong swords, she thought, to be able to cut stone. Then the thought hit her, if there had been sword fights that meant people! And there was hardly any dust in the cracks, that meant they had been recent! She might be able to find someone!

Thinking to find a door somewhere to get in maybe to find someone she ran round the building.

Tidus had run round the building and still not found an entrance. But then a small light appeared and he saw the silhouette of a person. She looked like an angel. A black figure with light behind it. Tidus thought he was dreaming. And he laughed inwardly.

Then the angelic figure stumbled.

She was really there…

Tidus started running again.

A/N

Uh…short again…I know…but no. They are NOT going to meet so quickly. That would just be a suckish story! You will see later! Please review and tell me what you think!


	4. Chapter 3

ANND I'm back! This chapter we actually meet another VII character! –gasp- so far we've only met four…¬.¬ So…onwards! Oh! This marks the start of the more recent chapters (Although the VERY recent chapters start at 7) so my writing style changes drastically halfway through this chapter after my 1 year break ;D

Thanks for the reviews =D

Yuna had walked all round the building when she felt someone or something looking at her. Light flooded from behind and she heard a small sort of screeching, growling noise. She stumbled and heard a gasp. As she looked forward she could see some sort of silhouette, was it…could it be?

She started running forwards but a large fiend leapt in front of her. It was HUGE! Big and black, or at least it was in this light, it bucked its head at her and she cried out.

Tidus saw a large creature jump out of the darkness and land in front of the angelic figure, he saw it dip its head and heard a shriek, she was really there…but just as he was about to run forward and kill that thing, he felt something connect with his back, he crumpled to the floor and felt blood trickling down his spine. He rolled over and saw another of those huge creatures looming over him. Its jaws open, ready to deal the final blow…

Yuna ran. She ran as fast as she could, she knew she could probably beat the thing if she tried, but in an unknown place with limited items and no friends to help her, she wasn't going to risk it.

Yuna spotted an open door into the huge building and she pelted in. Hopefully that fiend couldn't climb stairs.

Yuna sat in a corner hugging her knees, she thought that maybe just maybe she was safe here now, but then she remembered the silhouette she had seen. She tried to tell herself it had just been a dream…but then she laughed at herself. Even if it had been a dream, it still might have been him…

He had been there…the strange woman had been right…but now…_everything just can't be that easy…_

Tidus closed his eyes, he thought about all that had happened…he'd had a good life… Or whatever his existence had been…

Then there was a slight whistling sound and Tidus felt something spatter on him and heard a strangled shriek from the fiend.

Tidus opened his eyes again and looked up to see a large word, glinting red in the moonlight and dripping blood. His eyes widened.

Holding onto the blade was a man, not overly tall or powerful looking, but he had no expression on his face. Tidus shuddered as the man looked down at him with expressionless bright blue eyes.

Cloud sighed as the boy in front of him fainted, from fear, relief or blood loss he wasn't sure.

Without saying a word Cloud put First Tsurugi into its holster on his back and bent down, picked the boy up and slung him over his shoulder, then picked up the blue sword that was lying beside him.

Carefully he set him on the back of Fenrir and studied him critically, he looked about 17, 19 at the oldest. His clothes were unusually bright. Yellow, blue and red weren't common colours in these parts. The boy's sword was unusual as well, it was a very bright blue colour and looked as if it had bubbles of air trapped in it. The shape was strange as well; it had a basic shape, but had an extra curve at the end with a jagged tip. The hilt itself was small with a red ribbon extending it.

Cloud climbed onto the bike in behind him and revved the engine; even with the loud noise the boy still did not stir. He took another look at the wound on his back; it was rather deep, but quite clean. Cloud sighed again.

Cloud pulled Fenrir in outside the Sector 5 church, his current residence. He picked the boy and his sword up again and used his shoulder to open the door to the church.

He lay the boy down on the front pew, right in front of the flowers. Cloud walked over to the big chest on the floor and opened it, he was supposed to be looking after the Materia for Yuffie, but he doubted she'd complain about him using it to help save this boy's life.

Tidus opened his eyes slowly, letting them adjust to the bright light that was filtering in through a hole in the roof.

_Where am __I? _He thought. Sitting up slowly as his back felt like it was on fire, he looked around. He was on a bench in a large room. There were loads of statues and pillars. Turning his head to the left he saw a bed of flowers. They were white and yellow and made him feel peaceful.

Looking in the opposite direction he saw a chest and beyond that a wooden box with a mattress beside it.

On the thin mattress was a man. Tidus could only see his back but he could see a shock of spiky blonde hair and black clothing. Leaning on a pillar opposite was a huge sword.

"He must be the guy who saved me..."

The man stirred at his words and sat up.

"You ok?" He asked softly.

"Uh...yeah I think so...Uhm...thanks for...last night you know...with the fiends..."

"No problem." He muttered and reached for his sword.

Tidus looked round for Brotherhood and saw it resting under the bench he was on.

"Uhm...what is this place?"

"It's a church in sector five slums."

"Uh...sector five? Slums?" Tidus scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"Yes, we're in the ruins of Midgar right now."

"Uhm...sorry, where's Midgar?"

The man looked at him as if he were mad.

"What?"

"Heh...well, I'm not too good on Geography see...Anyways, I'm Tidus what's your name?"

It took him a while to answer.

"...Cloud." He narrowed his eyes slightly at Tidus. He walked towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Tidus jumped up, winced but straightened again and bounded after him.

"I run a delivery service. I have customers that need their packages early." Cloud continued walking and didn't stop to look at him.

"Ok...so, what am I supposed to do?" Tidus had no clue where he was, or even who this Cloud person was, but considering he had saved his life, healed his wounds and given him a place to rest he seemed ok.

Cloud didn't seem to hear him. Either that or he was ignoring him. Tidus reckoned it was the latter.

Tidus stood in the doorway of the church and watched Cloud climb onto his bike and drive off.

"Well, I guess I'll vacate and leave him be..." Tidus was well used to being housed by strangers. On Yuna's journey they had 'infringed', as Lulu had put it, on many people's hospitality.

"That's what I should do! Look for Yuna!" Tidus thought about where she would be, but before he had any ideas, his stomach gave a loud rumble. "But first I think food would be a good idea..." He groaned and stepped out of the church into the sunlight and looked round.

The area was in ruins, it was obviously the place where he had arrived in last night.

Cloud thought about that boy, Tidus he had said, as he zoomed along on Fenrir.

He hadn't seemed to know where Midgar was, EVERYONE knew where Midgar was! He had called the monsters Fiends. That kind of speech and his dress style as well as his unusual weapon hinted that maybe he was from another continent. He didn't look like he was from Wutai but that was going by Yuffie's eccentric dress style.

He'd call into Seventh Heaven later and ask Tifa to give Yuffie a call for him.

Calling in to see Tifa might be a bad idea though. He knew that if he did that he was in for a 3 hour chew out as to why he'd been avoiding her. He went there to pick up packages at the busiest hour possible so she wouldn't catch him.

Mentioning Seventh Heaven he needed to go there in a minute to pick up some packages.

Rikku followed the strange cloaked man through the streets of some grim city. It was all grey's and browns. Her bright hair and clothes (Just to clear this up, I'm writing her in her X outfit I don't like her X-2 outfit) stood out like a sore thumb. That being said, Vincent, as he called himself, his outfit was mainly black but the bright red cape, almost like Auron's, stood out as well.

Rikku was slightly creeped out by Vincent, he was too quiet, not in a moody way but...just withdrawn, and his eyes scared her. She was used to weird eyes, Al Bhed weren't exactly renowned for having normal eyes, but the bright red glowing eyes of this man were just scary. Paine had red eyes but they weren't like his.

Rikku shook her head. She had to focus on finding Yuna!

"Here." Vincent stopped outside a building with a sign above it, 'Seventh Heaven'.

"That's a nice name." Vincent just grunted in response. "But...it's closed..." Vincent took a while to answer

"...Friend of mine runs it...she'll open for us..."

"Oh cool." Vincent nodded to her and pushed open the door.

"Tifa?" The woman at the bar had long dark brown hair and kind and gentle deep amber brown eyes.

"Yes Vincent?"

"I found someone who needs some help..." Vincent muttered and pushed Rikku forward with his un-gauntleted hand.

"Oh hello." Tifa looked at her warmly, eyes sweeping her up and down.

"Uhm...hi!" Rikku chirped. Tifa seemed very nice.

"Welcome to Seventh Heaven."

"Uhm...'scuse me, does this place belong to you?" Rikku cocked her head on one side.

"Yes. I had a bar like this in Midgar before it was destroyed."

"Oh...I know what it's like to have your home destroyed...it's one of the worst feelings on earth isn't it?" Rikku's smile faded slightly.

"Oh where did you live?" Tifa stopped drying the cups and set her cloth down looking at Rikku with sadness in her eyes.

"Bikanel Island...We had to destroy it when it was invaded..."

"Bikanel Island? I haven't heard of it..."

"Yeah, well, we tried not to tell people about Home. Seeing as our previous ones were destroyed as well..."

"That's terrible!" Tifa exclaimed. "Oh? You're leaving?" Tifa craned her head to look at Vincent who had opened the door again.

"I have some things I need to do..." And with that he swept out of the room and shut the door softly behind him.

"Wow...what a creepy fellow..." Rikku said almost involuntarily.

Tifa laughed. "Oh I think I know someone you'd get along with VERY well."

"Huh?"

"You remind me of a certain someone..." Tifa laughed again.

A/N

. . . . Uh...I have nothing to say...for once...anyway I think you can tell Yuffie's gonna make an appearance soon...¬.¬ (if I remember) Could you spot where I left off then started again? ;D Cookie for anyone who can lol


	5. Chapter 4

I realise you may be wondering what's happened to Paine! But...I don't really like Paine I included her purely because I wanted a character back on Spira while Rikku, Yuna and Tidus were having fun on Gaia. So Paine is the lucky one =D

EDIT: ARGH! FF Net screwed up my line breaks! D: If it suddenly changes place or something it's meant to be a line break, sorry

Tidus sighed as he trudged through the ruins of the city, Midgar, Cloud had said, and pondered about food.

...Food...

...Food...

"DAMNIT! Why do I always get stuck places where's there's NO DAMN FOOD!" Tidus kicked the wall of a building then cursed in pain. "See? How the hell is this fair!"

Tidus muttered to himself for another 20 minutes before the building stopped. There was another space with no plants in front of him, and beyond that was, what looked like, another city. It was just as dull in colour from what Tidus could see, but perfectly upright.

"They've GOTTA have food there!" Tidus whooped and started running.

Tidus had stopped running a while ago it was too hot. And he had no water. Although he had seriously considered trying to drink his sword at one point.

That was another thing, in the ruined city there had been loads of fiends. Out here there were none.

But just as the thought crossed his mind he heard a shrieking sound.

The noise cut through his head and he remembered the night before. The large fiends that had cut him down. But Cloud had rescued him, healed him. So Tidus ran towards the noise, half curious half wary.

When Tidus had been running again for about five minutes he saw several black shapes on the horizon. One was travelling in an almost straight line; the others were circling round it.

Tidus hefted his sword and raced towards them just as the middle shape was surrounded by the fiends.

Tidus charged at them full speed and swiped his sword at the closest creature.

He couldn't see the thing at the centre, there were tons of monsters surrounding it, so Tidus rushed at them one by one slashing and twirling his sword, as he hit them they disappeared into black smoke or mist. It was rather creepy.

Tidus swung round looking for the next fiend to kill, but instead found himself staring straight into the face of Cloud!

"Cloud!"

"Tidus?" Cloud sounded surprised and slightly weary. "What are you doing out here?"

"Ah haha..." Tidus let out a nervous laugh. "Well, I got really hungry so I thought I'd go look for some food, then I came to the edge of the city and saw the other city and I thought maybe they'd have some food there, then I saw those fiends again so I thought I'd come and help you out!"

Cloud looked slightly taken aback by his rushed explanation.

"You fight well..."

"Eh? You think so? Auron was always telling me that I need to practise more...that guy still gets on my nerves...or he would, but he died...some time ago...but he was still annoying me as an unsent. I had NO IDEA Auron was unsent! I mean seriously, but then I had no idea about a lot of things...I mean..." Tidus trailed off.

"Are you ok?"

"Hmm? Oh me? Yeah I'm cool! Just hungry...and thirsty..." Tidus pouted.

"Well, climb on the back...I'm going into Edge now so..." Cloud said quietly. Tidus eyed his bike.

"That's some fancy Machina you got there...I'm guessing you're not a Yu Yevon worshipper then!" Tidus grinned and laughed.

_Machina? Yu Yevon? _Cloud pondered these terms but didn't say anything.

Cloud reached for the bars but winced and gripped his arm.

"Actually could you take the front, I just need to..." He trailed off and Tidus' eyes widened.

"Uh...yeah...I think I can figure it out..." He went on to mutter something about fancy Machina being a nuisance. Whatever that meant.

On top of the nearby hill a young man cloaked in shadow, one hand raised, smiled as he observed the two blondes fighting Shadow Creepers.

"No matter how much help you have, you won't escape." The man whispered, his smile turning into a smirk.

Peering to follow the bikes movement as it sped off the man raised his head, silver hair straggling round his face, his green eyes narrowed slightly.

"_Brother..."_

Rikku was busy chatting to Tifa about what she did in Seventh Heaven. It seemed pretty quiet, but Tifa told her that on some days it got REALLY busy.

"So do you run this place all by yourself?"

"Hmm? Well, yes, Cloud supposedly lives here as well, but he runs a delivery service."

"What do you mean supposedly?"

"Well, I never see him anymore...he comes in and collects packages then he's gone. He might call in and talk to Denzel and Marlene for a minute...but..."

"Denzel and Marlene?" Rikku put her head on one side.

"Oh...well, Marlene is our friend Barrett's adoptive daughter but she stays with us while he's working...and Denzel, well, Cloud found him...he's another orphan and...He's ill..." Tifa's eyes filled with sadness and she trailed off.

Rikku put a hand on her shoulder.

"What has he got?"

"Geostigma..." Tifa looked away.

"What's that?" Rikku blinked

"You've never heard of Geostigma?" Tifa sounded surprised.

"Uh...no...So what is it?"

"Well, no one's really sure..."

"Oh..." Rikku sighed slightly.

They didn't talk for a while. Then Tifa got up and turned over the sign on the door.

People started filtering in and Rikku took up a position by the door. That way she could see everyone coming in.

She doubted the others would come to a bar, but...

After about twenty minutes the bar was pretty much full. Rikku sighed.

"Back to the drawing board I guess..."

Then the door opened again and two blonde heads walked through, the first was a middle heighted man wearing all black and he had a huge sword on his back. It was bigger than Auron's!

Rikku gaze flitted to the other, slightly taller, one. Her eyes widened.

"TIDUS!"

"Huh? Wha? Rikku! RIKKU!"

Tidus gasped as he saw her. She hadn't changed much, her hair was longer and in a different style but her clothes were the same and her swirled eyes still had that merry twinkle. Although they were marred by a sadder expression, and slight hints of...anger.

"WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN! I HAVEN'T SEEN YOU IN AGES!" Rikku yelled at him. Tidus had never heard Rikku shout at him like that, she sounded sad but extremely annoyed.

"Huh? It's been like a day you know..." Tidus looked at her as if she was crazy, but this WAS Rikku...and with Rikku you never knew what to expect...

"A DAY! A DAY! ARE YOU KIDDING ME! IT'S BEEN TWO YEARS!"

Tidus eyes widened.

"Two...years? R-really...?" For Tidus it had been a couple of days... how had he lost two years?

"Yes...you didn't realise?" Rikku's annoyance seemed to fade and she looked up at him then ran at Tidus. He staggered back as she hugged him fiercely.

Tidus was in shock still as Cloud coughed slightly. He had been the only one to hear Rikku's rant; it was too noisy in the bar for anyone else to hear.

Tidus looked at him and grinned.

"She's not usually this emotional!" He laughed lightly. Cloud raised his eyebrows as if not convinced. "What?" Tidus blinked at him.

"You didn't realise you were away for two years?" Cloud's voice was soft and laced with something Tidus could not easily define.

"Well, yeah?" Tidus wasn't sure what the big problem was. If people can walk around dead, Dreams could seem like reality and Summoners could walk on water then what's the problem with not remembering stuff?

Cloud didn't say anything he just shook his head and disappeared into the crowd.

"He needs to lighten up..." Tidus said thoughtfully and he looked back down at Rikku. "Uh...you ok?"

"No I'm not ok! I...I..." She burst into tears.

"Rikku?" Tidus bent down slightly to look at her.

"Yunie...I CAN'T FIND HER ANYWHERE!" Rikku's sobs increased and Tidus felt his stomach drop.

"What?"

A/N

For anyone wondering the three squiggly lines mean a break, so it stays with the character, but a single black line means a break, but changes character perspective. Usually it will be to a completely new character, but other times it will show the views of all characters and stuff.

Anyways...sorry if it's... cheesy... I was stuck for ideas. And when Rikku yells at Tidus she isn't yelling exactly just talking loud and fast and angrily. Lol

And I keep going to write Tidus looked up at Cloud, but I CAN'T! Tidus is TALLER than Cloud by two inches! Or so...lol T.T Cloud, grow a little please? If only to make my life writing this story a little easier! But seeing as he won't I decided to make a point of it. =D I still find that funny, Cloud's 23 in this time and Tidus is 17/19 and 2 inches taller!


	6. Chapter 5

...I'm mean. I'm VERY mean...poor Rikku...anyways...total mess this is. But read on!

PS. Hopefully the breaks I've used this time will work!

XXX000XXX

"What do you mean Rikku?" Tidus tried to comfort Rikku as she sobbed into his chest.

"We...we were looking for you...and Yuna fell down this hole...I don't know where she went, then I fell too, and I found myself here...I don't know where she is!" Rikku sobbed.

"Rikku..."

"I'm sorry Tidus!" Rikku cried into him.

"It's not your fault! Now brighten up, and then maybe we can go look for her together." Tidus tried to be cheery, it was hard. He wasn't sure why he was here, where 'here' was, or how to find Yuna. But at least knowing one person in this place was enough.

Tidus had been through a lot recently. Up until only a few months ago, or as Rikku had said, a couple of years ago, he had been living in Zanarkand, blissfully unaware of anything dark or dangerous, his biggest worry being whether he'd win the next Blitzball tournament. Then Auron had appeared...and Sin...then Tidus had found himself in Spira, journeyed with a Summoner, become a guardian, fought countless battles, discovered his father was their enemy, found that his whole existence was only a Dream, killed Spira's 'Deity' and then he had simply faded away...

But Tidus hadn't died. He'd found himself here.

"Mmhmm..." Rikku wiped her eyes and looked up at him.

Tidus smiled at her. His old cheery smile. Rikku responded with her cheeky grin.

"Rikku?" Tidus and Rikku looked round to see Cloud and a woman coming up behind them. Cloud was looking slightly sulky.

"Oh hey Tifa!" Rikku greeted the woman with her usual perkiness. Tidus smiled at them.

"Rikku, is this a friend of yours?" Tidus blinked, Tifa seemed to be very protective of her, been though they'd only been talking a while.

"Yep! He's an OLD friend." She put a stress on OLD.

"Now whose the meanie!" Tidus grinned at her playfully. Rikku stuck her tongue out at him.

"Oh you know what I mean!" They laughed. It was good to be able to laugh again.

"Oh that's good." Tifa smiled at Tidus. "I'm Tifa nice to meet you!"

"Oh...I'm Tidus." Tidus shook her hand.

"Uhm, Tifa, I'm just gonna go and get some fresh air 'k?" Rikku smiled again and dragged Tidus out of the door. Tidus waved at the bemused couple behind them.

"Ok mister. Talk." Rikku jabbed a finger at his chest.

"I want the truth!"

"About what?" Tidus was anxious; he needed answers about a lot of things too!

"EVERYTHING!"

"Uh...Well, I want a lot of answers too you know..."

"Fine. If you're gonna be clever about it...I wanna know why you didn't tell us about the whole fading thingy!" Rikku looked really upset. Tidus sighed. He's expected that to come up.

"I didn't tell you because I didn't know. Not until that point in the Chamber of the Hidden Fayth that I was even a Dream!"

Rikku started slightly.

"But why didn't you tell us then!"

"Because then Yuna would never have continued on her pilgrimage..."

"...But..."

"Listen Rikku, that was in the past, a long time for you. All that matters is that I'm here now. You're here, Yuna's somewhere. She's probably scared, cold and hungry...most definitely hungry...everyone gets hungry when they get to a new place...I mean it's human nature to be hungry, and when you're alone you feel hungry even more..."

"You're hungry aren't you?" Rikku said almost sarcastically.

"Is it that obvious?" Tidus grimaced.

"Well..." Rikku wrinkled her nose. "If you want I could go get some food, and then you'll probably gulp it down, start choking, grab the water then start dancing when I speak to you." Rikku said with her hands on her hips.

"...That's not fair." Tidus pouted. Rikku fell about laughing. After a second of glaring at her Tidus started laughing too.

"I think its fate that I have to get sucked into new places and you'll always be the one there to laugh at me..."

"That's right! I do remember that time when..."

"Shut it." Tidus shoved her shoulder lightly.

"What?" Rikku said with wide innocent eyes.

"You're about to laugh at how I was stuck in an underwater dungeon starving...aren't you?"

"No actually I was gonna laugh at how you were so hungry I managed to knock you out with one punch!"

Tidus glared at her. Then he looked pleading.

"DO you know somewhere that does food?" He almost begged.

"...Uh I could ask the guys in there, they're really nice!" Rikku smiled at him.

"Uh Rikku... do you actually have any clue where we are?" Tidus asked.

"Nope! But you'll be no help in finding Yunie if we don't get you something to eat!"

Tidus blinked. She was always so...perky...

XXX000XXX

Inside the bar most of the patrons had left so Tifa had managed to grab Cloud and give him a lecture about how he should come home more often, then she sent him upstairs to go and talk to Denzel and Marlene.

Tifa sighed. Cloud had been distancing himself from them recently. He never came home, he was always travelling, his goddamn phone was always OFF or he didn't answer.

"Well, dwelling on it isn't going to help." She sighed again and went back to drying off the empty glasses. It was sad really, they had been so close. All of them, Cloud, Vincent, Cid, Barrett, Yuffie, Red XIII and even Cait Sith. Aerith as well...before Sephiroth had ended her life.

But now, they were all going their separate ways. Tifa had been happy because she had been with Cloud...but recently, he had been becoming more and more distant. Tifa didn't know what it was but she suspected it was something to do with Denzel, and Cloud not being able to find a cure.

Just then she heard footsteps coming down the stairs and she saw Cloud's pale face come round the door and he walked straight past her whispering a goodbye.

Literally as soon as he'd shut the door behind him it had opened again and Rikku was coming back in, half dragging Tidus with her.

"Hey again Tifa!" Rikku chirped raising a hand in greeting. Tifa frowned and asked,

"What's wrong with him?" pointing to Tidus.

"He hasn't had food in..." Here she decided to impersonate Tidus' voice "ABSOLUETLY AAAAGGGGGESSS" she giggled.

Tifa laughed, glad that it wasn't anything serious.

A/N

Oh and for any of you wondering, most of the time I will be writing as Tidus, but the other characters do come into it. AND I'm not writing RikkuXTidus. I think it's cute...but no. And I'm still struggling with Cloud's height! I may have to give Zack a huge role in this damn fic just to let Tidus be smallerfied! T.T

Anyway I don't like this chapter. It was too hit and miss. After all in X and X-2 they never really make it clear whether they all knew about Tidus being a Dream...until he actually faded if you get me...so I basically spun the wheel and jumped. If you've never heard that expression you've been living in a tree for the last few years...¬.¬


	7. Chapter 6

A/N and hello again! Ahahahaha my lack of plot disease has come back to haunt me! Seriously.

"You're my saviour! My absolute saviour!" Tidus gushed as he guzzled the food Tifa had set down in front of him.

She raised an eyebrow at him.

"Oh don't worry; he says that to anyone who gives him food..." Rikku sighed.

"Oh does he now?" Tifa laughed slightly.

"Oh yeah." Rikku looked slightly annoyed. "He scared the hell out of me when I first met him..."

"Rikku, I was not that scary!" Tidus mumbled through a mouthful of food.

"Yes. Yes Tidus. You WERE."

Tifa laughed at the two arguing.

"So..." She decided to intervene. "What brings you to Edge?"

"Hmm?" Tidus and Rikku looked up.

"Well, I got lost on the plains out there, found my way to Midgar, then got attacked by fiends, Cloud rescued me and brought me here." Tidus grinned.

"Wow Tidus, you're pretty pathetic if even after all your training, and fighting experience a couple of fiends could knock you out." Rikku smirked.

"I'll have you know they jumped on me from behind!"

"Some excuse."

"So what about you Rikku?"

"Well, I found myself in this weird place in this strange forest, then Vincent, who reminds me creepily of Auron, no its true he does, found me and brought me here."

"Ok. That's really not fair! I had to trudge my way across a baking hot desert place, then again and that's all that happened to you! My life sucks." Tidus pouted.

"Sounds like you two get around a bit!" Tifa laughed.

"You have NO idea..." Tidus deadpanned.

"Tifa...can I take a glass of water up to Denzel please?" A little girl's voice came from the doorway.  
>Tidus and Rikku looked round, standing half way out of the room was a small girl with her brown hair in a plait and her eyes were large and round.<p>

"Yes of course you can Marlene." Tifa's voice was soft and slightly sad. Rikku seemed to understand why but Tidus was left looking between them, completely bemused. As always.

Once Marlene had vanished upstairs again Tifa turned to them and asked, "Are you two moving on today or are you staying here in Edge?"

Tidus looked at Rikku, "I think we'll have to stay here tonight until we can think of a plan of action..."

"A plan of action? Sorry, I don't mean to be nosy..."

"No, it's fine." Rikku smiled softly. "Well, you see, our friend, MORE than friend in Tidus' case" Rikku grinned at Tidus cheekily, Tidus hit her arm, "anyway, our friend is...well, we got separated...and now we can't find her!" Rikku started to cry again.

"Oh...you poor things. I know exactly how you feel...I've...I've lost friends before..."

They sat in silence for a minute before Tifa raised her voice again.

"Anyway, do you two have a place to stay tonight?"

"Uh...no..." Tidus scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Well, we have a couple of spare rooms here..."

"Oh...well, uh we don't have much money..." Tidus trailed off. _Or__any__at__all__in__my__case._

"Free of charge, I can't stand by and let you two stay out in the cold, and I'll also help you find your friend!"

"Tifa..." Rikku looked at her

"You don't have too—..."

"I want to."

"Huh?"

"I want to help you find your friend!" Tifa looked at them, her eyes were fierce. "I know I can help!"

"But why?"

"I hate to see anyone in distress. I know what it's like to lose a friend...and I just...I just want to make sure that you're ok!"

"Tifa, I know that you want to help, but seriously, we've only just met you, you barely know our names, we know nothing about each other. You can't just go up to a total stranger and decide to help them because you feel like it!" Tidus waved his hands in the air, an earnest expression on his face.

"NO. Listen to me Tidus, Rikku. I don't CARE if I've just met you! Things here are as peaceful as they can be considering, I want to help you find your friend, I don't want you to suffer the same pain I did. I don't want you to be hurt. If I'm with you I can provide some sort of protection. And if you don't let me I'll still come along! I will help and I'll be damned if you stop me!" Tifa slammed her hands on the bar top, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Tifa..."

"This...this would just give me some comfort to know that I'm helping someone...helping them to stop being sad..."

"Tifa listen, I know how you feel but—." Tidus started but Rikku cut him off.

"OK. You can help us." Rikku had that look in her eye. That desperate, sad and pleading look.

Tidus sighed, he had tried not to get anyone else involved, more people meant more questions, and questions were things he really didn't want.

"Ok fine..." Reluctantly he agreed.

"Right! Well, if that's settled then I'll show you to your rooms! It's getting late." Tifa sniffed a little, blinked a couple of times and stood up, her welcoming smile back on her face.

Tidus and Rikku exchanged a look. Tidus still wasn't sure that they should let her help, but Tifa remained adamant. And if it gave them a free room and food...Tidus shook his head, he wasn't doing this because of food! If Tifa's help would let them find Yuna faster... then he was all for it!

XXX000XXX

Cloud was on his way back to Midgar, halfway across the wastes in fact, before he realised that he had forgotten to use the phone to call Yuffie. He did have his phone, but he never used it.  
>He had been trying to figure out the deal with the two new comers. He presumed that Tidus had got amnesia or something of the like, considering the fact that he didn't remember 2 years and also had no idea where Midgar was. Perhaps they WERE from a different continent. They seemed to have another friend as well, he had overheard the name 'Yuna', Cloud presumed that they had all been travelling to this continent together then got separated somehow.<p>

Swerving to avoid a rock structure Cloud shook his head to clear his mind. It was none of his business. Although, no matter how much he tried to put it out of his mind he just kept thinking about them. So much was wrong.

Cloud was determined to unravel their mysteries.

XXX000XXX

After Tifa left them too it Tidus padded into Rikku's room, (after knocking first of course). She was sitting on the bed tears pooling in her eyes.

Tidus sat down next to her.

"It's not fair Tidus, it's not fair." Rikku sobbed. "I have you here and also a place to stay, food, water and we've met some really nice people, even in such a short time. What will Yunie have? She's probably all alone...so alone...I don't...I don't want her to be lonely again. Tidus it's not fair!"

She flung herself at him again and began sobbing into his chest. Tidus tried to comfort her. But really, he needed a little bit of comfort as well.

A/N  
>Wow, this took forever to write, as in I started it like...in the summer of 2010 and it's currently April 2011. Although I did go through and edit some stuff in the previous chapters, adding in bits and taking some out to make the story less complicated.<p>

Ok. So about the chapter. For any explaining, I'm trying to make Tifa seem like her protective I-will-do-this self. Sorry for any OOC-ness. It's quite hard to keep the characters in line with their personalities. Tidus and Rikku are NOT in love; Rikku's just a bit insecure and misses Yuna a lot so she needs a bit of support.  
>As for Cloud, he's just a paranoid ***** as usual. Just because I felt like I'd left him out a bit I returned to him and added a little bit of mystery his end.<p> 


	8. Chapter 7

A/N Not sure about this one...well, we return to Yuna (ah...yes Yuna...oops) and find out what she was doing for the last day. I probably won't get her character right a lot of the time. I find her quite difficult to write about. She's...well, we all know Yuna!

~_After the encounter with the Shadow Creepers~ _

Yuna slowly opened her eyes as light filtered into the run down room she was lying in. As she slowly woke up she realised that her right side was incredibly cold, she had been sleeping on a concrete (they probably don't use that word but hey!) floor all night.

Her mind was all confused. Rikku and Paine must be so worried about her back on Spira...and Tidus...Tidus... She couldn't shake him from her mind. The thought that he might really be there was just so tantalising and she couldn't wait to see him again properly.

Yuna clambered to her feet and fumbled her way to the door.

She was halfway down the stairs before she heard noises, it was people! At least, she thought it was. However Yuna wasn't sure of anything anymore. Yuna cautiously peered round the corner of the room in front of the end of the stairs.

There were two people there, both wearing the same kind of outfit, very posh looking clothes, but not really clothes that a high official would wear, Yuna pondered over them, they had an incredibly different aura to anyone she had met before, they didn't seem evil, but they didn't seem overly friendly either, she wondered at this enigma.

Yuna was generally very good at reading people, as a summoner, EX-Summoner she reminded herself, she'd had to been, as often summoners were approached by random people in hopes that they could relieve some of their sorrow. However these two were different. Yuna couldn't get a clear reading of either of their characters, the only thing she picked up was mainly from their appearance.

One had bright red hair, which was messy and stuck up all over the place before tapering into a lank ponytail, he also had goggles, similar to Rikku's round his head, his shirt wasn't tucked in and was scruffily hanging out over his trousers.

The other was bald wearing dark sunglasses that made Yuna slightly uncomfortable, she liked being able to see peoples' eyes. But in a way she thought this man was safer than the other, maybe it was something to do with the fact that he wore his clothes with a kind of pride and they were spotless.

Although she was still a fair distance away their voices weren't hushed so she could hear some snippets of their conversation

"...What do you think it was, yo?" The red headed one slapped a strange looking rod against the palm of his hand

"Obviously some kind of monster." The other shook his head slightly, as if exasperated by his companion's stupidity

"You don't think it's one of those new weird creatures that have been popping up all over the Wastes?"

"...Hmm...It could be"

"It's so annoying, yo! We have to do all the work right now!" The first man leaned back on his own arms, hands clasped behind his head.

"Reno, you shouldn't talk like that, Tseng and Elena are missing, this is no time to be..."

Yuna had tried to creep closer but the building was so old that the step had simply crumbled beneath her and after a second of an incredible feeling of nothingness her heart shot into her mouth as she left her stomach behind and tumbled down the stairs.

She shot through the door and disrupted the two men talking. Grasping her head slightly Yuna attempted to sit up, but before she could get very far two pairs of rough hands grasped her arms.

"Now, what do we have here?" Yuna looked up into the face of the red haired man, Reno, she recalled.  
>She opened her mouth a little to speak but no words came out.<p>

"What did you see?"

"How much harm can she do, Reno?" the other man motioned as Reno showed no sign of letting Yuna go.

"I just want to know what she saw, yo." Reno protested.

"I didn't see anything!" Yuna squeaked quietly.

"Oh, so you just found your way into here without looking at anything? Are you blind!" Reno laughed.

"No, I just didn't see anything special!" Yuna stated quietly, not impressed by Reno's attitude. The other man stood silently in the corner of the room, observing Reno's actions, but not doing anything to interfere.

"Oh yeah? And how do you know what is special and what isn't?" Reno snapped, clearly not impressed at being talked back too.

"Because I've seen plenty of things in my life!" Yuna was getting slightly emotional. After everything she'd been through, rude red heads were the last of her problems and she really wanted him to LET GO.

"Hah. I wonder sometimes." Reno let go of her arms and placed his own behind his head and scowled.

"Reno..."

"Yeah, yeah, save your lecture Rude."

Yuna took advantage of Reno and Rude's distraction and unfurled her summon staff behind her back

"Valefor!"

XXX000XXX

Reno and Rude whipped round as there was a large whoosh and one side of the building caved in and a large dragon like creature appeared.

Dust swirled around the room making it almost impossible to see. Yuna tried to look for the two men but she couldn't see anything. Then she felt something in the back of her neck and felt a small sting before everything went black.

XXX000XXX

Reno sighed as the girl flopped down, knocked out.

"You didn't have to be so harsh you know." Reno heard Rude's voice coming through the dust.

"Yeah well, you saw that huge dragon thing, yo. Who knows what it could have done."

"Amazing. You actually thought something sensible for once." Rude joked slightly.

"Whatever yo, let's just get back to the boss."

Reno looked again at the girl in his arms, she didn't look like she was from the area, her clothes were bright and their style was quite unique. Maybe from another continent...like Wutai.

Maybe...

XXX000XXX

Vincent sat in his normal place in front of Lucrecia's crystallised form. But the usual peacefulness of the place was broken. The thin tendrils of Lifestream that constantly swilled out into the shallow water of the cave, were gone. In their place were thicker strings of bright turquoise substance, writhing and coiling, not dispersing back to the planet as they should.

Vincent shifted slightly, still peering under his head band, but this time we wasn't looking at his love's sleeping form, but at the strands of Lifestream.  
>He knew something was wrong. 30 years ago, whilst protecting the ShinRa scientists he'd picked up quite a lot of knowledge about the workings of the Lifestream, and anyone could tell if they'd spent enough time in the place, that this was not normal.<p>

_It must be a disturbance in the Lifestream...and any disturbances would come from a hole into the stream...like the Northern Crater..._

Vincent stood silently before sweeping out of the cave and out into the sunlight, headed towards the final place, the crack in the planet...

The Northern Crater.

A/N

Gasp! Yuna was found by the Turks! Dun dun dunnnn yeah ok...kinda lame, and short but I had problems with this chapter, so Yuna may not get many chapters because I find it easier writing as Tidus...I have problems with her characterisation T_T and she's more of X-2 Yuna...so defiant and strong not soft...sometimes...^^; but like I said before, Yuna can still summon and stuff...because its fun. (Don't care about the technicalities k?)

So then I switched to Vincent, originally at the end of this chapter I had to beginning of the next chapter, but then I thought this was a better way to end the chappie and gave me something to start the next one out of! ^^


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8! W00T! I started this chapter in a maths lesson, 'wrote' some more in a music theory exam and then finished on Word lol This chapter runs on quite a bit...sorry. And WOW in Chapter 2 or 3 I said I would bring Yuffie in soon...I obviously forgot...**

Cloud sat on the ground gazing into the water, lost in thought.

He was still thinking about the strange new visitors, last night when he had first discovered Tidus after the Shadow Creeper attack he could have sworn that he saw the figure of a girl running into the building.

Maybe he did, or it could have just been a trick of the moonlight

_I'll just check, _Cloud thought, if there was a girl he should probably check she was alright, Shadow Creepers were pretty scary after all.

Cloud's head shot up as he heard rustling behind him. He stood up quickly, hand reaching for his sword.

Out of the bushes stepped two young men. One has slightly longer than shoulder length silver hair and green eyes and the other had short silver hair and the same eyes. Cloud shivered, he was reminded of Sephiroth just a little too much.

"What do you want?"

"Where is she?" The taller one stepped forward slightly, shifting his bulky frame onto one leg.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Cloud muttered and started walking away; hand still on the hilt of his sword.

"The reunion is coming and you won't be able to escape." The other man this time, it was a different voice.  
>However Cloud paid them no heed and walked away through the bushes.<p>

XXX000XXX

"Eugh. Yazoo! He didn't listen to us!" Loz complained.

"Shh, our _brother _will come to us soon enough." Yazoo smirked.

"And then we can find mother!"

"Yes...and then everything will fall into place..."

XXX000XXX

Cloud sat on the first pew of the church, rolling his phone over in his hand. He was determined to find out about what was happening in the world but…

He shook his head and flipped the lid of his phone open. He scrolled down till he found Yuffie's number and pressed call.

After a couple of rings Yuffie's chirpy voice answered.

"Heyo!"

"…Yuffie?"

"Who is this?"

"Cloud" he said, slightly bemused, she should have seen his name on caller ID

"No its not, Cloud never calls, how did you get his phone?"

"No seriously Yuffie, its me." he sighed.

"Sure…Sure…So, what's up?" Cloud rolled his eyes at her stupidity.

"I have some questions…"

"Shoot."  
>"I'd rather not talk over the phone…where are you?"<p>

"Uh…the outskirts of Midgar"

"Why are you in Midgar?" he sighed

"I'm treasure hunting!" Cloud groaned at the tone of her voice

"OK, meet me in the wastes in 10 minutes."

"Awww Cloud, I –."

"I'll give you Materia." He deadpanned

"I'M COMING!" She shrieked and Cloud had to pull the phone away from his ear lest he become deaf.

"Ok." And then he hung up.

XXX000XXX

Yuffie bounced towards the wastes, all thought of treasure hunting abandoned in the face of Materia

_I wonder what he wants to talk about...actually no. Its Cloud he won't talk, he'll listen. _

When Yuffie reached the wastes she heard the sound of an engine behind her,

"CLOUD!" She squealed, "Where's my Materia?"

"...Here." Cloud handed her a couple of the brightly coloured orbs. It didn't matter that she had loads of almost every kind; Materia was Materia.

"So, what did you want to ask about?" Yuffie asked whilst stroking the Materia.

"..." Cloud tried to figure out how to word his questions.

"Oh come on! Stop being so moody! SPILL!" Yuffie yelled and poked his chest,

"..." Cloud look at her in slight shock. "Uhm...ok...well..."

"I can't tell you anything if I don't know what you want to ask!"

It was times like these, when Yuffie acted philosophical that Cloud was reminded that Yuffie was not just an irresponsible teenager she had lived through the losing side of a war and fought the strongest man on the Planet.

"Well...I..." Cloud took a deep breath and then plunged into it. "There have been a couple of...not suspicious but...different people in Edge and Midgar recently, they speak strangely and dress different to most people here. I was wondering if you could see if they were from your continent"

"Wow, that was a long sentence for you! Well done! Yuffie grinned cheekily. "Well, I'd probably have to see them, but I know most in Wutai, stupid father..." She muttered the end.

"They're at 7th Heaven now..."

"I was gonna pop down there later!"

"Contact me." Cloud said and turned away, climbing back onto Fenrir.

"Now wait a minute!" But he had already gone.

"GAH! Stupid Chocobo head!" Yuffie stamped her foot "Ch. Ah well, better get to 7th Heaven. Boy I'm parched! Tifa'll give me a drink!" And humming to herself Yuffie bounded down the hill towards Edge.

~~~  
>Only once she reached the city did she realise that she had never asked why he wanted know about the new comers.<p>

"Oh my god! Cloud is a stalker!" She cried

"Uh...excuse me, Yuffie?" A gentle hand was placed on her shoulder.

"Oh! Tifa!" Yuffie spun round grinning broadly.

"What's this about Cloud being a stalker?" She looked mildly amused.

"Oh, well, according to Cloud there are 'suspicious' people around and he wanted to know whether they were from the Eastern continent or what."

"Ok...so why are you in Edge?" Tifa looked slightly bemused.

"Well, apparently they're at your bar!" Yuffie smiled "And I was about to come and see you!"

"He thinks there are suspicious people at my bar?" Tifa raised an eyebrow

"Uh yeah!" Yuffie couldn't see what the big deal was, Cloud was paranoid, Tifa should know that!

"But the only people...Ohhhh..." Tifa started then suddenly her eyes widened as she came to a conclusion.

"Eh?" Yuffie tipped her head on one side. "What?"

"He is so paranoid..." Tifa shook her head.

"Wow, you just figured it out? Geez Tifa, you live with the guy!" Yuffie put her hands on her hips, mockingly.

"Not anymore."

"You what?"

"He doesn't come home anymore." Tifa sounded sad

"Awww, ah... well, I'm sure it's a lot happier without Mr. Grumpy guts!" Yuffie tried to be cheerful.

"Sometimes I wonder..." Tifa sighed. "Anyway, let's go back to the bar and get a drink." Tifa smiled at the end.

"I'm SO glad you said that, I'm also STARVING. I haven't had any food for AGES, well, not since I left for Midgar this morning!"

Tifa laughed.

"That's the second time today I've heard that line! Come on."

Yuffie, bemused, bounced after Tifa towards 7th Heaven.

XXX000XXX

Tidus sighed, playing with the glass in his hand, letting one side tap against the table, then the other producing a steady rhythm that resounded in the still air.  
>It was strange. Although he was alive, something he could never have imagined happening, he didn't FEEL alive. It was like something was missing. He felt hollow. Rikku suggested that he was love sick, although he thought she meant that as a joke as she had said it with a smile on her face, but...<p>

Tidus knew what love sickness felt like, or at least, some kind of love sick, but this was not the same. This feeling was not as emotional as much as physical.  
>Although...what could you expect? He had never been real, so why should he expect to feel real?<p>

He sighed again.

"Oh come on Mr. Grumpy guts, I know you're depressed and I'm also feeling sad, but we gotta stay positive!" Rikku's voice interrupted his ponderings,

She was sitting on a bar stool up by the counter, wiping glasses. They had insisted that they help around 7th Heaven in return for the food, shelter and water that Tifa was going to provide. The people here were so nice.

"I know...I know...it's just...I don't feel right..." He couldn't voice the feeling he felt, he had enough trouble trying to explain it to himself.

"Me neither...I feel lonely...Yunie, Paine and I were together for two years...so now that they're not here..." Rikku sounded uncharacteristically solemn.

They both sighed again.

The building was so quiet when the bar was shut; there was only the sounds of the fans whirring above and the tapping of Tidus' glass on the table. The air felt heavy, and the city outside was just as drab and dire as the atmosphere inside.

Maybe it was something to do with this gloomy atmosphere that made Tidus feel so empty...no...That wasn't it.

Although he felt that same loneliness as Rikku, it was different. He still couldn't explain it.

"ARGH! Why is it so gloomy in here!" Tidus yelled, frustrated at...pretty much everything, but mainly himself.

"He's at it again..." Rikku sighed.

Just then the door creaked and started to swing open.  
>Rikku jumped to her feet and grinned widely.<p>

"HEYO!" She jumped up and down as Tifa walked in.

"Hi Rikku, Tidus." She continued in, dragging a couple of crates behind her.

A girl, about Rikku's height and age followed her; she had short black hair and dark brown eyes, which sparkled mischievously.

"Wow, what's with the gloomy atmosphere!" She cried as she stepped in. "I thought Cloud wasn't here! Wait...is it Vinnie?"

"Honestly Yuffie, why would Vincent be here?" Tifa shook her head as she deposited the crates on the bar top.

"I dunno..." Yuffie pouted. "So! Who are these guys?" Yuffie pointed to Tidus and Rikku, Rikku had a strange look on her face and Tidus was kind of exasperated, he really did not need this right now.

"Hi! I'm Rikku!" Rikku bounced up to Yuffie, the two girls were almost the same height, though Tidus reckoned that Yuffie was a little taller, and they had a similar personality, from what he had observed so far. "And the guy who is currently sulking over there is Tidus." Rikku pointed her thumb at him.

"Hey..." Tidus wasn't in the mood for conversation, not right now.

"Wow...it's like a mini Cloud! Wait...no...He looks taller..." Yuffie's eyes became shrewd at the end.

"That's enough of that Yuffie. Leave them be."

"Nah, its fine Tifa! Tidus is just being moody." Rikku pouted slightly and Tidus frowned at her. He wasn't moody, just...just...

"Well, I'll leave you guys to it, I'm going upstairs." Tifa left with a small wave.

"So...Rikku, Tidus what are you doing here?" Yuffie plonked herself down on a bar stool.

"Well..." Rikku started but Tidus cut her off

"We're looking for someone." Someone being the most important person in the world to him.

"Oh...so why do you think they're in Edge?" Yuffie asked. Tidus sighed; he really did not need any more people poking their noses in. Maybe Rikku was right...he was slightly moody, but he blamed it on his predicament.

"Well, we're slightly lost..." Rikku laughed guiltily.

"Ohh...so you're new here...wait..." Yuffie trailed off and eyed them both. "You aren't the guys Cloud was talking about are you!"

"Cloud...that's the guy with the Chocobo hair right?" Rikku tipped her head on one side.

"Yeah!"

"What did he say about us?" Tidus was slightly worried now; Cloud had overheard pretty much their whole conversation, it would be slightly awkward trying to explain everything to this hyper girl.

"Oh...just some random stuff about how he wanted to know where you guys came from. I think he's a stalker y'know?" Yuffie ranted. "I mean...why couldn't he just ask, oh wait. That would involve engaging in conversation!"

"Why'd he ask you?" Rikku looked slightly peeved.

"Cos he thought you guys were from Wutai. Which you're not are you?"

"No."

"Thought not! So, where on Gaia are you from?" Yuffie didn't seem bothered by anything; in fact she had leaped off of the stool and was bouncing round with her arms flapping.

"Gaia? Where's that?" Rikku asked

"Come on, don't joke. That's the name of the planet!"

"No, this is Spira..." Rikku frowned. Tidus sat up slightly straighter, he was intrigued now. Why would they have a different name for the world...unless...no...

"Spira? Isn't that the name of the star?" Yuffie's brow wrinkled.

"Yuffie." Tidus started "Have you ever heard of Zanarkand?"

"What is this? NO!"

"Bevelle, Guado Salam, Besaid, Luca, Killika, Moonflow..." Tidus named several towns and areas he could remember, Yuffie shook her head at each one. He breathed in slowly then let it out in a slight gasp. He could see it all, they had learnt about the universe at school, back in Zanarkand, there were three planets, Spira, Gaia and Earth (Please read A/N).

Apparently these 3 planets were the only ones in the Galaxy. Yuffie had seemed to know something about it as she referred to Spira as a star. Maybe that's how they had been taught over here.  
>Tidus shook his head.<p>

"Yuffie, can we have a minute?"

"Uh yeah..." Yuffie looked thoroughly confused but stepped outside anyway. He stood up, quite slowly, almost as if he were about to approach a wild animal, and walked towards Rikku and placed his hands on her shoulders. Lowering his voice to a whisper he delivered the words that he really didn't want to have to tell her.

"Rikku...I get the feeling that...this isn't your world at all."

A/N

Tidus is very solemn in this chapter. It's all linked together; he isn't just feeling ill or something, there is a good reason behind it. I did RESEARCH.  
>Although in FFVII the Planet is just called The Planet, in some places it is called Gaia, and that sounds better than The Planet for the purposes of this fan fiction. Also the information that Kazushiga Nojima provided in the X-2 Ultimania is <em><span><strong>void<strong>_ in this fic. Also it is confirmed that the VII world and Spira are in the same Galaxy, along with one more world, but I can't find out which one it is, so for now I'm just going to choose Earth from IV because of the scene with Anna and Edward where Anna appears as a spirit and mentions a kind of Lifestream/Farplane like place. If you KNOW which one it is please tell me! (It can't be IX's world cos there are two of them, I thought about using VIII's world but we don't know what it's called)


	10. Chapter 9

A/N And after that lengthy chapter I have some ideas that were meant to be in the last one...I was watching the Dirge of Cerberus walkthrough whilst writing this so it was quite amusing writing as Vincent at the beginning ;) (After that it's just a huge Cloud fest)

Vincent sat back in Lucrecia's cave pondering what to do. The two Turks he had rescued from the Northern Crater were badly injured; their wounds were obviously from torture, cold and ruthless torture.

Vincent had discovered the two Turks, Tseng and Elena, in the Northern Crater after he had travelled there to try and find the source of the troubles in the Lifestream.

Surprisingly there had not been anything of consequence there, although there was the evidence of helicopter ruts and also digging, the thick earth had been upturned in some places.

However there was nothing to explain the disrupted Lifestream

Vincent just hoped that the injured Turks could help him although he didn't know when they would be well enough to say anything much as their injuries were severe.

Vincent wasn't much of a medic he had done his best to bandage their wounds, but he had no Cure Materia or any potions on him.

There was a loud rumble and Vincent looked up to see an explosion of rocks and a tendril of Lifestream burst out followed by more, all of them writing and squirming.

Vincent's eyes widened slightly as the strips of Lifestream dived towards him and the sleeping Turks. Quickly he grabbed them and fled,

As soon as he had crossed the edge of the crater the storm of tentacles following him had fallen away.

XXX000XXX

Tifa had just started to go downstairs having heard the front door shut (Unbeknownst to her that was Yuffie exiting the bar as Tidus had asked) and she had her foot on the first step of the stairs when the phone rang. Sighing slightly she softly slipped into what had been Cloud's study and answered the phone.

"Strife delivery service, you name it we deliver..."

A voice she recognised all too well spoke up on the other end of the phone, shunning her presumption that he was a customer

"Remember me, yo?"

XXX000XXX

Cloud scrambled off of Fenrir and looked around, checking for any monsters that might leap out at him, before sliding the fully assembled sword into the sling on his back.

In front of him was the building that he had found Tidus outside of, strangely enough the building, which had used to contain offices for some branch at ShinRa, was crumbling and one of the walls had a large hole in it, however there was next to no extra rubble outside the building, which meant that the hole had been made by someone on the outside, however it was right in the middle of the tall structure, it was almost impossible to reach that height and no one could lean down and still create such damage. This implied that the gap in the building had been made by something that could fly.

There were a lot of monsters that could fly, but most of them weren't strong enough to create this amount of damage to one of ShinRa's buildings (ShinRa had always put a lot of money into their buildings to ensure the safety of the structures). Yes, there were plenty of flying monsters on Gaia that could cause this amount of damage, but none of the lived in Midgar, very few things lived in Midgar anyway, certainly not enough to feed one of the large beings that could create this damage.

This meant that the hole must have been caused by someone with powerful Materia, of either the spell or summoning kind.

But who would want to destroy an old ShinRa building? There was nothing left in it, any of the structures left standing after Meteor had been stripped of their contents, which was then used to build Edge. There was nothing in there worth getting at! And in any case, they could have just walked through the door and up the stairs...

Then Cloud noticed something, just off to the side there were large ruts in the ground, the kind that helicopters made...there weren't many people in this world that owned helicopters. He immediately jumped to the conclusion that ShinRa had been there.

It was probably the Turks investigating the Shadow Creeper attack last night. That still didn't explain the huge gaping hole in the side of the building.

Sighing to himself Cloud stepped into what had been the reception of the construction. He ignored the room to the side and headed for the stairs, hoping to find some clues in the room that had been broken into.

When he reached it he saw the large amount of rubble and dust that had accumulated around the gap in the wall.

There was nothing particularly special about the room, not at first glance anyway.

Just poking out from underneath the chunks of wall was a rod. The kind that the Turks used. Cloud had been right; it was ShinRa and the Turks that had come here. He still couldn't figure out why there was a crater in the wall though. Cloud supposed that there had been some kind of monster in the building and the Turks, whichever one of them had come to investigate, had panicked and summoned something. It was strange that there was no trace of a monster though...

Cloud shook his head, he didn't need to think everything through so hard.

Although one thing was still bugging him...the girl, he could have sworn he had seen the figure of a girl running into the building. Maybe it had only been a hallucination...but that made him sound mad and Cloud really did NOT want to think about hallucinations right now. A dream, he must have dreamt her up. Yeah that was it...

Cloud tried to push the girl from his mind when his phone rang.

Taking it from his pocket he saw the name...it was Tifa. Cloud immediately didn't want to pick it up, he was too ashamed to speak to Tifa at that point.

Fortunately she seemed to know this and after just a couple of rings it went into voice mail. Tifa's warm voice crackled out of the speakers.

"Cloud, Reno called..." She went on to say about how they wanted him to go to Healen.

This would be the perfect opportunity to find out about what had happened here.

~~~XXX  
>Cloud reached Healen without much incident, just a couple more voice mail, one from Barret, rambling on about Oil being an alternate source of energy to Mako and the other from Tifa telling him to hurry up and get to Healen.<p>

He had brought the electromagrod that he had found in the ShinRa building with him, he didn't know how useful it would be, but it might be leverage if they denied being there.

Cloud opened the door without knocking and had already drawn his sword, ready for any intervention.

He wasn't disappointed.

A/N

I got terrible writers block on this chapter, I had to give up writing as Vincent and start on Cloud (I then went back and added in that little bit with Tifa)

The part with Tifa is supposed to explain why she didn't barge in on Tidus and Rikku after Yuffie had stepped out and why she called Cloud. Obviously the situation changed a bit, but hopefully the conversation didn't ;D Also, in ACC it's referred to as Healen but in AC it's called Healin (Maybe the other way round ^^''') so I used Healen.

Also forgive my lack of knowledge on the Monsters and Materia front, I've never played VII (Or any of the compilation) as I only have a DS and I wasn't even one year old when it came out!

And please review! ^_^ (If you can haha) it motivates me and reminds me that the story is loved XD


	11. Chapter 10

Yay for the next chapter! Again a scene in this chapter was supposed to be in the previous one but I left it out because if I'd put it in, it would have been a bit rushed. This is another long chapter! Also the end is quite confusing (As my lovely friend said when she proof read it) So don't be afraid to ask if you're confused!

It had been three days since they had arrived at 7th Heaven...and nothing had really changed. If anything Tidus was feeling even worse than he had been.

Rikku and he had perused the town, well, most of it, searching for Yuna. Unfortunately they hadn't found anything. No sign, no trace.

It was 3 days since Tidus had told Rikku of his theory about the different worlds. She had reacted with fear and disbelief. Originally she hadn't believed him. She had thought he was joking, Tidus kind of wished that was the case.

After Yuffie had come back in though, Rikku had bombarded her with questions about this world, Gaia, and she had finally come to believe him.

Tidus sighed, still feeling melancholic, as he walked back into the main bar, still drying the glass in his hand.

The next second there was a loud smash and he felt cold pain in his leg. the bar went quiet with the sound of the smash.

He looked down to see the glass that had been firmly in his hand on the floor, sparkling in the artificial light, still wet with washing up water. A dull throbbing in his leg alerted him to the fact that when the glass smashed some shards had dug their way into his lower leg, unprotected by trousers. Curse fashion.

Tifa ran down the stairs as she noticed the sudden silence. As she rounded the corner at the end of the stairs she noticed Tidus standing stock still, hands in front of him, a dish cloth hung over one arm.

Tidus had heard her coming down the stairs, but he was still in shock, there was no way that cup could have fallen from his grip. One hand had been beneath it and the other had been wrapped round it, as he had been drying up from the previous days' business.

He was shaken out of his slight stupor by Tifa's hand on his arm.

"Tidus! What happened?"

"I...I'm not sure...the glass just...fell..."

"Oh, you got cut? I'll go get the disinfectant."

Tidus nodded slowly.

Just then Rikku tumbled down the stairs,

"Hey Tidus- oh woah is that blood!"

"Dropped...broke a glass." He frowned, dropped was definitely NOT the right word.

"Oh wow. I thought it got quiet down here." The noise levels had risen again though. "Where's Tifa?" She asked, non-plussed about the rivulets of blood running down Tidus' leg, staining his yellow socks red.

"She's out the back getting uh...disinfectant."

"Ah. K... Well, Yuffie's offered me a tour of this city, gotta get to know the place before we go searching for Yunie again right?"

"Yeah...good idea..."

"Ok, well, seeya later, if you haven't been killed by the ferocious glass that is!" She winked, smiled cheekily and hopped, skipped and jumped out of the bar.

"Oh, was that Rikku?" Tifa's voice came from behind him.

"Uh...Yeah." Tidus blinked

"Where was she going?"

"Oh, Yuffie offered to take her on a tour."

"Ah that's good, now, could you pull these pieces of glass out?"

Shaking himself, it was just a glass after all, Tidus limped a couple of paces to the nearest bar stool and sat down on it, raising his leg onto his lap.  
>He gritted his teeth and pulled out the shards watching pathetic spurts of blood follow.<br>Tidus looked up for a second and felt a stinging pain in his cuts.

"Owww, what was that?"

"Disinfectant." Tifa said calmly, a small smile on her face as she took in his indignant expression,

"Uh huh."

"You better keep the weight off of that leg for a while, just let them heal on their own."

"Ok sure." He nodded. He felt like a little kid all over again.

Tidus sat on the bar stool and observed his surroundings, it was just the same as the previous couple of days, the bar was loud and everyone sounded cheerful.  
>Usually in a place that was so happy, one would become happy...but...<p>

He still hadn't figured out why he felt like this, or why him dropping a glass had been so important, like something kept floating just out of reach.

"I could really do with a game of Blitzball right now..." he sighed.

XXX000XXX

Cloud was sat on a large boulder out in the wastes, right on the cliff that bore Zack's memorial. It was the same boulder he had hidden behind while Zack became a hero.

Cloud shook his head and addressed the Buster Sword, standing silent on the hill.

"I don't know...what should I do?" He buried his head in his hands. "Zack..."

A sharp pain shot through him, like ripples originating from his despair as memories surged before his eyes. Torture that came in several kinds rushed across him. His arm was throbbing, almost pulsating with an aching, shooting pain, his head hurting with unbidden, unwelcome memories of the man that had done so much for him, without getting anything in return.

After a couple of minutes the offending limb stopped hurting, although a thin streak of black ooze had made its way down and was dripping off of his exposed fingers.

Just one more reminder of his uselessness .

He still didn't know what to do about the girl...his mind swirled back to 3 days previous.

~~~000  
>Reno's Nightstick was brushing side by side with First Tsurugi; the owners' faces polar opposites. Cloud pulled back slightly as Reno swung, missed and catapulted outside, managing to shut the door as he went.<p>

As the door started to open again Cloud locked it.

In that time Rude had come into the room but he showed no sign of wanting to fight.

"...You called?"

"Yes..." A new spoke from the other room.

"Is that..." Cloud's voice trailed off as a wheelchair came through the door, the man in it was mostly covered by a white sheet, but the smirk on his face was unmistakable.

"Rufus Shinra huh? So you survived."

"Yes. Now I'm here to give you an offer."

"What would that be?" Cloud was shrewd he still didn't trust Shinra.

"There have been some very unusual...occurrences recently, wouldn't you agree...Cloud?"

Cloud merely nodded slightly.

"I want to hire you...to help me find out about this, as the muscle."

"Not interested, I'm a delivery boy, not a mercenary." The 'anymore' part went unspoken, but not unacknowledged.

"That's too bad...I was hoping we could...share some knowledge."

"Come on boss, you know what this idiot is like!" Reno's muffled voice came from outside.

Cloud thumped the door.

"Ignore him." Rufus Shinra said dismissively. "Now, I have something to show you." He made a small motion at Rude who opened the other door again.

Cloud cautiously followed them through. What he saw made him stop and stare in shock.

A girl lay asleep on the sofa. It was the same girl that Cloud had seen the other night!

"Ohh...?" Rufus looked interested at his reaction. "Do you...know this girl?"

"She's... what I came to ask about..." Cloud chose his words carefully.

Rufus was silent.

"I saw her running into a building after an attack from Shadow Creepers. The next day I went looking for her, all I found was a broken building and helicopter tracks." Cloud did not mention Tidus. However much he was suspicious of him he didn't want to mix him up with ShinRa. However Shinra seemed to pick up on the fact that he was concealing something.

"Why didn't you investigate straight away?"

Cloud gritted his teeth.

"There was a boy there as well...he...he was badly injured so I took care of him first."

"And where is he now...?" Rufus's voice was shrewd. Almost calculating.

"I'm not sure." Cloud said, not entirely truthfully, but not necessarily lying. He didn't know exactly where Tidus would be right now, he could have already left 7th Heaven. He then gestured to the girl.

"Why are you keeping her here?"

"She portrayed an unusual ability...we want to keep an eye on her."

Cloud stepped back slightly and narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, don't worry, no harm will befall her." He made another hand gesture and Rude ushered Cloud out of the room, just in time to see Reno climbing in through the window. He brushed himself off and looked up, winking.

"Reno, stop messing around." Rufus snapped.

"Sir!" Reno's goofy grin was replaced by a mock seriousness.

"Now...other matters..." Rufus went on to explain about Kadaj, strengthening Cloud's worry.

"Will you help us?" Rufus slowly extended a hand.

"Yeah! We could rebuild ShinRa!" Reno's input snapped Cloud back to reality.

"Not interested." He turned and unlocked the door.

"The offer is always open!" These words followed Cloud out of the door, and, as it shut he heard two voices saying,

"Reno, you IDIOT!"

~~~000  
>What Rufus said still troubled him. First there was Geostigma, coupled with Kadaj. Then there were the strange new comers, at least three of them now...Which reminded him, Yuffie had never gotten back to him.<p>

He was really the last person to chase anyone up...but after what Rufus had said...her information was increasingly important.

Just what did they all want!

XXX000XXX

Zack lay, as he always did on an ethereal space on an ethereal plane.  
>Being dead really was very boring.<p>

The Lifestream was actually quite beautiful. It wasn't some kind of floaty, fluffy place like many people thought, it was...mysterious. There was no real way to describe it.

Simply put, it was a place of memories, swirling green lights and a white fog. Well, not exactly a fog, more like...everything was being drawn on a piece of white paper and the people and lights were the only things being coloured in.

Some areas of the 'paper' had 'holes' in that allowed you to see through into the real world. Areas that allowed you to 'spy' on the living as Aerith put it. There was such an area right here, where Zack resided.

This little section 'belonged' to Zack and Aerith, Aerith, being a Cetra had somehow persuaded the planet into giving her a flowerbed. Ironic huh?

Today Zack had tuned into Cloud. Although the guy never said much about what he was thinking, it was usually written on his face. He was currently brooding about the guys from Spira.

"Poor guy, he's so paranoid."

"Spying on him again?" A gentle voice came from behind Zack. "It must be love." Aerith giggled.

"You know I only have eyes for you." Zack winked and shot her a cheesy grin as he turned round. "Find out anything new?"

Aerith shook her head as she sat down. On what, Zack...still wasn't sure.

"Just what the planet's already told me. Two years ago it appears that there was a connection made between the Farplane and the Lifestream. This happened after the Farplane received a huge rush of souls, it couldn't cope with them all so it opened up a link to the nearest Spiritual plane, the Lifestream. Coincidentally at that point the Lifestream had just rushed to destroy Meteor. Unfortunately the Lifestream was also absorbing Sephiroth's soul at the time.  
>The Farplane managed to use some of the Lifestream's Spiritual energy to stabilise itself, although in return the Lifestream borrowed some of the Farplane's unique energy to stop Meteor. Unfortunately at that point several of the artificial souls going to the Farplane were absorbed into the Lifestream."<p>

"Surely that's not a bad thing? Just souls in a different 'heaven' to normal." Zack shrugged.

"You'd think." Aerith nodded. "However, as these souls were very special, having come from another world the possessed a very potent Spiritual energy. As such they were transformed into fuel for a twisted soul that was bordering between life and death at that moment."

"Sephiroth..." Zack breathed.

"Yes. Sephiroth." Aerith shuddered slightly.

"But...wait. What about Tidus? He's still around!" This was all too much for Zack.

"Well. The Souls that Sephiroth stole were all relatively weak. They came from a Dream world and as such they didn't hold much substance. Their bodies were purely Spiritual, made entirely of Pyreflies."

"What?" Zack asked stupidly.

"Ok. In any of the three worlds of this universe this applies, but for the purpose of this explanation I will use Spira as the example."

"You know, the planet knows a lot about the other worlds."

"Well, of course, they all originated from a similar space after all." Zack gaped at her. "Do you want to hear this explanation or not?" Aerith smiled slightly.

"Yeah...sure...go ahead..." Zack said weakly.

"In Spira a person's body and soul will contain a certain amount of Pyreflies. However they will also have a physical form and partial spirit that exists separately from the Pyreflies. This would allow them to exist in an area that the Pyreflies do not go. A Dream from that world is simply made from Pyreflies, Spiritual energy if you will. This means they have no physical form to rely on."

"I _think _I understand." Think being the operative word here...

"Good to know you're not entirely stupid." Aerith grinned cheekily and Zack huffed. "Anyways. According to the planet Tidus passed through a physical plane and strengthened his soul. Not so much that when the Fayth stopped Dreaming he was still there...but enough so that he wasn't lost in the rush."

"Ok...I'm following. So does this mean Sephiroth...?"

"Yes. He can come back. Using the stolen energy he may be able to recreate his physical form. Although..." She took a deep breath. "Although I do not know...how long it would take..."

"Then..." Zack gestured madly, trying to convey what he meant.

"Yes. We may be too late."

A/N

Ok! Finally done. I started Zack and Aerith's bit at 11:20 at night and wrote this A/N at 12:02 AM. –dead-  
>I did tons of research for this part, sorry if it's confusing! Hopefully everything will start linking together!<br>Ok, so yeah in the Cloud and Shinra scene I changed stuff, cos its not only boring for you to read the movie but its boring for me to write it D:  
>And I think I made Cloud too chatty in this chapter...well, I did write Cloud's section at 11 at night ;D<br>And there is a very good reason for Tidus still being emo! . I don't like him like that, but he's staying that way for a while =P


	12. Chapter 11

I had no idea how to start this chapter. I finished the last chapter then got out my notebook in bed (I always write in bed) Then I started this one...It took FOREVER. Oh and I'm sorry if there are any mistakes, or punctuation mistakes, whenever I type up I place my notebook in front of the screen so I can see what I've written then I correct after XD So yeah...

XXX

Tifa was standing behind the bar washing up after closing hours when she heard someone coming down the stairs. She turned in time to see Tidus rounding the corner. His head was down, face etched with worry and his movements were slow like he was fearful there were a trap door beneath his feet that he would fall down.

"What's eating you?"

"Hmm? Oh...nothing." Tidus looked at her, eyes still slightly downcast, but to his credit he didn't try to smile. Although she reckoned if he had tired his face would have broken it was that stiff.

"Oh come on. I can see something is bothering you. I'm not blind." Tifa saw Tidus' eyes widen slightly, before he laughed a little.

"How do you know I'm not always like this?" He asked raising an eyebrow.

"Because a few days ago you and Rikku were bouncing off the walls," Almost literally

"..." Tifa could see that Tidus was lost for words

"So...what's up?"

Tidus sighed

"Tifa...have you...did...uh...have you ever had something you could call a dream? Like...an ambition? Something you rested your life on?"

Yes..."

Well...did it...did it come true?"

"Kind of..." Depends what you meant by 'true' she guessed.

"But...you know, I believe that all dreams can be realised." She'd had to, in this world where everything could go wrong...where nothing was right, faith was all you could really have. Faith in yourself.

"You...you really believe that?" Tidus whispered.

"Yeah. All dreams come from a hope, and you can't hope for something you don't know about and you can't know about something that doesn't exist."

"I see..." He bowed his head for a second then looked up grinning.

"Thanks Tifa, although that doesn't necessarily apply to my situation, you've given me something to go on! You've made me feel much better! Thanks!"

Tifa watched, slightly, bemused, as he ran off out of the bar, whacking his shoulder on the door frame as he went.

"That was...unexpected..." Tifa's blinked.

XXXOOOXXX

Tidus practically bounced out of 7th heaven, full of new energy.

That empty feeling was still there, he didn't know what it was but...but knowing that some people believed helped.

Yeah...it was just one person, but everything counted right then. In a world where you're sure of nothing a little bit of belief went a long way.

Tidus just stood for a while outside the bar, breathing in and out slowly, getting strange looks from passersby, before putting his hands on his hips and looking round purposefully.

He really ought to catch up with Yuffie and Rikku, who knew what kind of trouble the two of them would cause!

But...how to find them...?

Tidus ran off in a random direction through Edge. 5 minutes later he was completely...and utterly lost.

"I just have the most terrible luck don't i?" He sighed, when he heard two men talking at the end of the street.

"Oh! I'll ask them for directions!" Tidus started towards the he caught snippet of their conversation.

"...coming into Edge when I saw two hyperactive girls heading into Midgar, they ploughed straight through me!"

"Uh! How rude. It's probably that Wutai girl, she has NO manners." The second one shook his head.

"Hey! Hey! Uh...'scuse me!?" Tidus closed the gap

"Hmm?" They both turned to him

"Uh sorry, but can you give me the directions for uh...Mid...Midgar?" Tidus tried to pronounce it right.

"You need directions for-!?" One of the men started, shocked. Tidus rubbed his neck self consciously. The man shook his head in disbelief. "Anyway, it's just over there..." He pointed left "And careful if you run into those girls! They might talk you to death!" Both men laughed, Tidus winked

"I know, I'm meeting them!" With that he took off, left this time, waving a thanks.

A laughed, 'Good luck!" Followed him

"This is gonna be a _LONG_ day." Tidus thought, remembering the last time he was in Midgar...Wait.

Tidus stopped so suddenly he almost fell over. Midgar was the place he'd seen Yuna that night.

"Argh! How could I have been so STUPID!?" He hit himself and pelted off towards the wastes, seriously considering using haste.

XXX

A Few minutes later Tidus heard a screech and a yell, followed by a furious bellowing roar. His eyes widened and he drew his sword, rushing off in that direction, breathing rapidly.

Whoever it was sounded pained, Tidus was fearful that it was Rikku and Yuffie.

A large shape appeared around a tower of rock. It was huge, horned fiend with razor claws.

Tidus arrived in time to see Rikku being swatted into a boulder; she tumbled to the floor, unconscious.

With a sinking heart and faltering steps he took in the rest of the situation, Yuffie was holding her own against the huge creature, bit its skin looked so thick that nothing could penetrate it.

Tidus was torn, help Yuffie or make sure Rikku was ok...?

Just then Yuffie tripped. Her Shuriken spinning out of her hand. Her face panicky he fumbled with a colourful and glowing orb. The beast roared again and charged at Yuffie, Tidus started towards them but he knew he wouldn't make it in time, so he did the only thing he could.

He cast slow.

The fiend's movements slowed and its massive foot appeared to be moving through jelly as it slowly continued coming down on top of Yuffie.

"MOVE!" Tidus bellowed as he leapt and planted Brotherhood between the shoulder of the creature, driving it in until he felt a crunch and Yuffie scrambled out of the way as the beast tumbled and crashed into the ground.

Tidus withdrew his blade from its neck and then rushed to Rikku's side.

"Rikku! Hey, Rikku!" Tidus shook her shoulders gently, He quicker checked for any bleeding.

His heart plummeted when he saw the trickle of red soaking through her shirt on her back.

"Yuffie! Get over here!" Tidus called desperately. A shaky Yuffie soon appeared at his shoulder kneeling down next to him, biting her lip.

"Do you have any potions or anything on you!?"

Yuffie shook her head numbly.

"I had Cure Materia but I dropped it and now its under the Behemoth." There were tears in Yuffie's eyes.

Then there was a scuffling sound behind them.

Tidus and Yuffie both swung round quickly but it was just Cloud.

"Oh, Cloud! Thanks goodness! Rikku's hurt bad, she won't wake up!" Yuffie cried.

Cloud said nothing, he just knelt down and pulled one of those glowing orbs out of his pocket and pointed it at Rikku. The flow of blood stopped and her eyelids twitched and flickered.

They all breathed a sigh of relief. Yuffie hopped up and scampered over to the body of the giant fiend, a Behemoth apparently. She knelt down and started pulling at it.

"What's she doing?" Cloud wondered aloud.

"Trying to get her glowy orbs back I guess." Tidus leaned on his arms, placing them behind his head.

"You mean Materia?" Cloud looked at him strangely.

"Oh, that's what it's called? Awesome." He sat down on a rock and watched Yuffie scrambling round the Behemoth, whilst keeping an eye on Rikku.

"You don't know-?" Cloud stopped halfway and shook his head.

"Tidus grinned slightly, that was the second time today that something like that had been said to him.

"HAHAHAHAHHAHA! The mighty Yuffie has reclaimed her Materia!" A Triumphant Yuffie strolled over brandishing a couple of the spheres.

"So, Yuffie, what happened?" Cloud gestured to her

"Well, I was showing Rikku round as Tidus was being emo and didn't want to come..."

"I didn't get invited!" He squawked indignantly

"Bleh." She stuck out her tongue at him, "Anyways so we got out here and then the Behemoth attacked us from behind, we held out for a while but then Rikku stumbled and it hit her into the rock..." Yuffie went onto explain what had happened to Cloud.

"Then Tidus came along and casted slow and slaughtered that thing! Oh yeah!" Yuffie punched the air.

"But..." Cloud trailed off frowning.

"What is it?" Tidus tipped his head on one side

"If you've never heard of Materia how did you cast slow?" Cloud turned to face Tidus,

"Ngghh...What happened?" A bleary eyed Rikku looked up at them. Yuffie hopped down and retold the tale to Rikku while Tidus answered Cloud's question.

"Is that what Materia is used fro? Huh, well...I just cast it?" He shrugged "Something I learned y'know?"

Cloud's frown deepened. But before he could say anything Rikku jumped between them

"Tidus! What are you doing out here?"!?"

"I came to meet you!" He grinned and after a second Rikku's grin widened.

"You feeling better then?"

"Yeah..." His smile softened.

"Huh, better? What?" Yuffie tipped her head on one side

"Never mind Yuffie." Tidus winked at her.

"Why are you so cheery? What are you on?" Yuffie's eyes narrowed and she leaned in and peered at Tidus.

"He's not on anything! At least I don't think he is..." Rikku put her thinking face on.

"Gee thanks Rikku—Yuffie! I'm not ON anything so you can stop SNIFFING me!" Tidus yelled exasperated.

They all laughed, even Cloud cracked a slight smile.

"I guess you got tired of being emo huh? Good there aren't any HAPPY guys around here y'know?" Yuffie smiled cheekily at Cloud who shook his head and sighed.

"OH! I almost forgot!" Tidus hit his head. "The first night we were here I saw Yuna in Midgar." Rikku looked excited

"Really!?"

"Yeah! We gotta find her!"

"Uh..." Cloud coughed

"Huh, what?" Tidus wheeled round to face him

"I think...Cloud started hesitantly

"Yeah!?"

"Well, I think that your friend is no longer in Midgar."

"What?" Tidus blinked stupidly "Where is she?"

"Healen." Yuffie nodded at the name but Tidus and Rikku were totally perplexed.

"Umm...where?"

"Cloud'll take you guys there! Right?" Yuffie looked at Cloud sideways.

"..." Cloud sighed. "Fine..."

XXXOOOXXX

Yuna's eyes flickered and then opened, surveying her surroundings. Initially she thought she was back on the CELCIUS but then she remembered all that happened and she bolted upright.

The room looked very formal but it was also quite a comfortable looking place.

Yuna was lying on a sofa on the far side of the room, across from the door and near a window. cautiously she peered out of the window.

The building was raised off of the ground and surrounded by trees, bushes and cliffs. It was very beautiful she though.

Then she heard voices coming from the other room.

Quickly, Yuna ran over to the door and peered through the porthole window.

The two men who she had seen in the ruined city were in there, their backs to her. Another person in a chair and under white sheets was across from where she was standing.

As Yuna watched, started filtering under the steel door on the other side of the room.

Reno and Rude started and jumped up with gasps of surprise as a sinister voice hissed

"_Found ya..._"

The shadowy black stuff coming under the door thickened and Yuna darted back hearing a crash and shouts.

She backed right into the far corner of the room and, taking a deep breath she grabbed an ornament from the room and smashed the window in.

Yuna closed her eyes and jumped out of the window, catching her hand on a shard of broken glass as she went.

Not caring about the pain and not looking back Yuna ran, she ran until she came to the cover of some trees. She sat down, hard, on the ground, breathing heavily. Yuna looked back but no one was following her.

Now...she thought, now I need to get back to that city. And with that thought in mind, she set off.

XXXOOOXXX

LOL! This chapter was exactly 2000 words XD As in, the content was, not including the A/Ns! XD  
>Anyways, I wrote this one...then didn't type it up about 2 months later D: Hopefully the next one won't take as long ^^''<p>

Oh and for anyone wondering 'XXXOOOXXX' means going to another character and another setting, 'XXX' means staying with the same character but moving setting slightly and 'OOO' means changing character but keeping the setting the same.

Sorry for the really spread out updates, I haven't written anything in ages, so this will have very sparse updates, but it's not dropped! I WILL FINISH IT.


	13. Chapter 12

Original AN: Woah...major procrastination chapter here XDD Ah well, sorry it's so short! ^^'

Edited AN: My. God. I finished this chapter on 7/7/12 I don't even KNOW what happened or why I stopped updating, actually I do. I started doing my GCSE's at school (Any English followers will know what torture I mean) and then I guess….I just forgot. Thing is, I always had several chapters backed up, I have up to chapter 15 written and I still remember the ending I had planned, I'll be uploading up to chapter 15 later or possibly tomorrow, but if you guys would like to see this finished then review and say so. I'm currently on the edge of entering my last school year and after that I'm going (hopefully) to University (college in America?) so I'm still going to be super busy. However as I know where this story is meant to go eventually (the middle still needs to be figured out woops) I will continue writing if there are people who are actively keeping up with this story. Now; enjoy my writing from 2 years ago!

XXXOOOXXX

Vincent sat on his bed in his house in Kalm, thinking, The Turks he had rescued were still unconscious, but their condition was stable.

The wounds they had were healing well, but is would be a while before they would be up and about. Vincent didn't know who had that too them. It defiantly hadn't been a monster; the wounds were too precise, no. It had defiantly been done by human hands.

It wasn't that he particularly cared about the Turks...but they might have some answers to his questions, and he couldn't just leave them too die. No matter how much trouble they had caused him and the others in the past.

And...Use what you could after all.

Shifting slightly Vincent stared out of the window, the annual festival was about to begin, wouldn't want to miss that...for the world...

XXXOOOXXX

A man stood outside a small opening in the side of a cliff, it was definitely well concealed...he could give them that. It blended in well with the craggy surfaces and there were bushes around the base of the structure meaning it was basically invisible unless you were looking for it.

Ducking his head slightly the man stepped into the cave. After a few brief moments his eyes adjusted to the dim light and what he saw shocked him in some ways and in others... he knew he should have expected it. It was their style after all.

The cave was actually HUGE, the roof was arching and the size of a cathedrals, there were stalactites dripping water and in the centre of the cave was a small lake (Or a large pond) of water which reflected and eerie blue light which also lit the rest of the cavern.

Around the edges of the water were many different sizes of stalagmites like a bizarre mouth. But this was not what had shocked him, no.

In the centre of the lake was a strange landmass. Just a random hump of earth in the middle of a random pool of water...and above it was a slightly glowing orb, suspended from a large crystalline pillar.

The orbs light was pulsating slightly and when the light dimmed he could see the figure of a man inside.

The first man gathered a Fire Materia into his fist and, collecting energy to his hand, fired a shot at the giant sphere in the centre of the room.

The dark orb released a wave of blue energy making the man look away; shielding his eyes from the glare, there was a small 'thump' sound. He looked up again He looked up again and saw the person he had come to meet standing on the little mound, smirking at him.

OOO

The newcomer looked at the man who had released him. Despite the nondescript appearance, short but messy light brown hair, dull grey and brown clothing; he knew exactly who the man was.

"Nice outfit." He smirked

"Everyone wears this sort of stuff, it's good for blending in."

"You mean I have to wear that?" He wrinkled his nose.

"Well...you would kind of stick out otherwise."

"Eugh."

"Come on. You can borrow this till we get into Edge!

He caught the bundle of cloth that was thrown at him and held it up with distaste. The other man just looked at him. He sighed and shrugged the cloak on over his other clothes.

"I feel unclean." He shuddered

"Deal with it."

"So...where are we going? Where's Edge?" He decided to ignore the other mans derogatory comment.

"It's the replacement Midgar."

"What?" He stopped dead. Not only shocked by the news, but by the man's blasé tone.

"Of course...you wouldn't know. Midgar's in ruins." His voice turned grim.

"What happened?"

"Sephiroth happened."

"Tell me everything. Now."

"It's a pretty long story...and afterwards, I want to hear yours."

XXXOOOXXX

The moment the comatose man opened his eyes the door a deep warehouse unlocked. The electronically shut door clunked open and light spilled into the room.

The soldiers within looked up at the sudden light, they hadn't been released for a few years now.

"All right men! You know the plan!" The troop leader grunted. All within nodded, toting their guns.

From the sounds echoing below it was obvious that the rest of their army were doing the same.

"Remember once you get there, kill all the impure. This will be the first of many raids, so don't be reckless!"

"Yes sire!"

"Deep Ground!

"DEEP GROUND!"

The sounds reverberated off of the walls as the advance troop stormed out.

The light was starting to fade and by the time the squads had reached they're designated points they would have the full cover at dark...

XXXOOOXXX

Vincent was still sat on his bed in his room in Kalm. This time the television was going, some random news report. The sound of it being drowned out by the happy festivities in the streets below.

Night had fallen and the fireworks had started.

He shifted slightly, listening, straining to hear any sounds from the room next door.

What he heard instead was the sound of rotor blades.

Vincent's gaze snapped towards the window and he saw a shadowy shape in the sky.

Just as he released what was going on a bold opf fire fell from the sky.

The loud bang was mixed with screams and yells

Vincent leapt onto the windowsill and saw utter chaos beneath, strange suited men were descending and the villagers were running everywhere. The suited men, troopers he expected, were holding something and as he watched they proceeded to shoot down villager after villager...

Until one trooper knocked down a man, pointed the gun in his face then walked off.

Looking around he noticed the telltale black stained white bandages on many of the fallen.

"They're eliminating Geostigma..."

XXX

Vincent strode through the streets of Kalm, brandishing Cerberus, eliminating any of the soldiers he came across.

It was strange; they had simply come out of nowhere.

His head snapped left as he heard gunshots. Quickly he leapt over towards the noise. Not too long later he reached the square again. The square was littered with bodies, surrounded by soldiers.

As he watched the men stepped into one of the surrounding vehicles and planes that had obviously landed during the earlier chaos.

Before Vincent could do anything the transport systems had vanished. Leaving behind dust clouds and motionless bodies behind.

XXX

Vincent trudged into his house only to slump down on the sofa.

After a little pause he heard a noise from upstairs.

Whipping round he rustled upstairs to the guest room.

Standing in the doorway Vincent saw that Tseng...was awake.

XXXOOOXXX

Tidus tightened his grip on Cloud's waist as their speed increased and large stone pillars of the wastes flashed by faster and faster.

"How far are we going!?" Tidus yelled in Cloud's ear.

"Why? You getting travel sick?" Cloud's soft voice murmured.

"What!? No!"

"That's good...I guess."

"You still didn't answer my question!"

"..." Cloud still didn't answer him.

Tidus huffed but settled for watching the scenery flash by past Cloud's hair.

"...Are you ok?" Tidus started at the unexpected question from the other man.

"Uh yeah...why wouldn't I be?"

"You seemed confused before."

"What d'ya mean?"

"It's just..."

"Yeees?"

"We're here." Tidus looked up and saw a large sprawling complex of raised buildings. It looked very new but still fit in with the surrounding forests and cliffs.

It looked like a very nice placed to live...except for the fact that the wooden railings were bent and splintered in places and the door was swung open. Without saying a word Cloud brushed past Tidus and swept up the stairs and rushed through the front door.

Hurriedly, Tidus followed him, trying not to trip up the steps. Inside the building held signs of niceness although that too was marred by the scratched walls and torn sofa. As well as...Tidus started as he saw two prone figures on the floor. Cloud was knelt over one of them.

"Hey, hey!" Cloud shook the man, who groaned and swatted one of Cloud's hands away. Tidus breathed a small sigh of relief that the guy wasn't dead.

"Reno, what happened here?"

"Eh...? Ow." Reno tried to sit up, winced, then leant against the wall. "Our little friend Kadaj paid a visit."

"Kadaj did?"

"Yeah. The boss's gone." Reno struggled to his feet and went over to the other man.

"Oi. Yo Rude!" Reno shook him.

Tidus just stood in the doorway watching as Rude raised himself up shaking his head.

"What about the girl?" Cloud pressed. Tidus' head shot up.

"What girl...? Oh her right. I dunno. She was in the other room but..." Tidus leapt across the room, not waiting for the red head to finish his sentence, and pushed the door open.

XXXOOOXXX

"Thank you." Tseng's calm voice broke the silence. Vincent merely shrugged

"Vincent Valentine, correct?" He nodded agreement. "Yes, I thought so." Vincent's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Are you better now?" Vincent leant on the door frame.

"Thanks to you. I was woken up by shouts from outside. What happened?" Tseng sat up straighter. All business.

"Soldiers in black and mako blue."

"Deep Ground..." Tseng whispered.

"Deep Ground?"

"A force of soldiers led by the Tsviets."

"What do they want?"

"Purity. Destruction of taint." Tseng's voice was scathing

"The Geostigma sufferers..."

"Is that what they were doing?" Vincent nodded. "This is going to get complicated." Tseng sighed.

"I have time..." Vincent shrugged slightly.

"Well..."

XXXOOOXXX

Tidus stood in shock in the doorway of the second room. It was very similar to the other one, save the scratched walls and torn sofa. There was also the addition of a picture frame with a strange symbol in.

The crimson curtains flapped over a broken window...a cracked vase lay beneath it.

But Yuna was gone.

A/N

Original AN: Short chapter compared to the last one, sorry! I was writing this in a notebook...and then changed my notebook...twice. Dunno why that would make a difference...but still! ;D

Sorry about all the line breaks...I just write that way =/

Uh... feel free to guess who the guys at the beginning were LOL. Shouldn't be too hard!

Any questions? Ask =D

Edited AN: So yeah, if you want me to finish this, please review and say so. ((say a special thank you to user **yarmantho **who's 'follow' reminded me this existed and I should do something about the chapters I have lying around.)


	14. Chapter 13

Original AN: Not much to say here...so yeah. I'm trying to balance out the characters that feature, so everyone gets an equal (ish) 'screen' time. Am I doing ok? Cos Im trying to get out of my comfort zone with characters and expand my horizontals ^_^ (If you have played Dissidia Duodecim you will get this joke, if not, ask about it in a review or something XD)

Edited AN: Again, this chapter has been finished for….a LONG time…a long, long time and I apologise, my big explanation is in the last chapter though so I won't waffle on again. (reading these original ANs makes me cringe a bit wow hello 2012 me)

…

Yuna paused, leaning on a pillar of rock as she viewed the ruined city down below with a distinct feeling of déjà vu. Down there she might find him again and then they would be able to go back to Rikku, Paine and the others.  
>With that thought lifting her heart she stumbled down the steep slope towards the rubble.<p>

XXX

Yuna soon found herself on the outskirts of the city, it was from a different angle that she had arrived in last time, so it took her a while to find the place where she had seen Tidus. The area she thought it has been was completely different.

The large structure that she had been looking for...was now rubble on the dusty ground.

Frantically she ran towards the building, hoping to see some form of life within, although she knew this was stupid as when she had been in that building and the men had taken her, there had been no sign of him...

As she trudged back out of the building, eyes downcast, she noticed something. Yuna bent down to look at it closer. It was a blood stain. She didn't know whose it was... but it was something. Looking up she saw, just hidden under a chunk of wall, quite a large stain, making her heart skip a beat. Running over to the brick she noted that there wasn't anyone lying there, dead or alive, which subsequently meant they must be _somewhere _else.

Looking back the way she had come she noticed a few more droplets.

"I'll follow them...and see where I get too!" She decided.

XXX

After about 20 minutes of following mystery blood stains that had grown increasingly further apart, Yuna lost sight of them all together.  
>Instead she saw a large building, still mostly standing, unlike every other surrounding it.<p>

"I'll try in there!" And, following her last thread of hope, Yuna ran to the door of the building and pushed it open. The large wooden door was surprisingly light and well oiled.  
>As she padded through Yuna noted the neatly arranged benches and large open space at the front.<p>

"It must be some kind of temple." She turned and saw a few things, one; smeared stains on the first pew, two; flowers blooming on the floorboards and three a roll mat and box as well as a chest on the floor between two pillars.

_There is definitely someone living here _she thought. But the likelihood of it being Tidus was low.

Maybe she hadn't seen him at all...maybe she had just seen a random stranger and her brain had fooled her into thinking it was him...

Just then, the door swung open. Yuna crouched behind the bench as she heard footsteps on the olden wooden floor of the building.

"Marlene wait!" A young woman's voice echoed slightly round the large room. A child's giggle followed.  
>Yuna slowly levered herself up onto the bench, she didn't think the pair would be dangerous. She saw a young girl, probably 5 or 6, in a pale cream dress and her hair in a plait, run past her.<p>

The little girl, Marlene she guessed, knelt over the flowers, she hadn't noticed Yuna.

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't notice you there." The young woman's voice came from her left; Yuna turned her head round and looked up at her. She had medium length dark brown hair and kind brown eyes.

"Oh, no I'm sorry, I didn't realise this was your church!" Yuna said apologetically.

"It's...It's not ours, it belonged to a friend..." The other looked away slightly.

"Oh...then whose...?" Yuna's question trailed off as she gestured to the boxes on the floor.

"Huh?" The woman turned and wandered over to the objects. "Strife...delivery..." She murmured.

Marlene scampered over to the box. "Does Cloud live here?"

"I guess..."

Yuna's last shred of hope vanished and she sighed. The other woman noticed her melancholia.

"What's wrong?"

"I just...well...see I'm looking for someone...I thought they might be here..." She sighed again.

As the woman opened her mouth to reply Marlene ran up to her and held out her cupped hands holding blackened white bandages. "Look! They're like Denzel's!"

"But...how...?" She shut her eyes and sat down on the pew, Yuna got up hurriedly.

"Sorry, I'll leave."

"No...no, stay. Marlene, sweetie, go back to what you were doing, Cloud should be back soon."

"Mm...k!" Marlene scampered off and Yuna watched her with a slight smile.

"Now..." The older turned to face Yuna, hands clasped in her lap. "What were you saying?"

Yuna explained how she was looking for a friend, ended up in the city then everything that had happened since. She felt she could trust this person, but still...she didn't divulge in names.

"It seems everyone's looking for something at the moment." She sighed. "Oh! I never told you my name, I'm Tifa." Tifa held out her hand.

"Yuna." Yuna shook it.

"Yuna..." Tifa's brow furrowed. "No way! Are you a friend of Rikku's!?" Yuna's eyes widened and she gasped.

"Rikku?! Rikku's here?!"

"Yes!" Tifa's eyes were sparkling. "Her and her friend Tidus have been searching all over for you!"

"Tidus! Tidus is here as well?" Yuna's heart soared "Oh...oh I'm so glad..." She shut her eyes and sighed. "He's real...He's here..."

"Huh?" Tifa partially caught her sighed words. "What do you-?"

At that point the large wooden doors swung open.

XXXOOOXXX

Tidus leant again the wall, head in his hands, while Cloud made sure that the other guys were alright.  
>His head was spinning. They had been so close...so <em>close... <em>But she was gone. Again.

"Let's go." Cloud's voice was soft, but it still startled him.

"Uh...yeah." With a heavy heart he trudged out of the room.

XXX

On the journey back neither man said anything, both just letting the silence hang, heavy over their heads.

"Yuna..." Tidus sighed.

"I just need to stop here. Wait a second." Cloud's voice again jolted Tidus back to reality.

"Huh? Oh...Right. Sure." He stuttered. Cloud nodded at him and walked off.

Tidus twisted round on the bike and saw a familiar sight.  
>The rusting sword stuck in the ground, well, it was currently on the floor, but still.<br>Tidus had been there before.

"So that sword belongs to Cloud huh?" He watched the other man prop the sword up again and a few moments passed as Cloud appeared to be talking to it. A few wisps of sound reached his ears but no words were clear.

After a few more seconds Cloud seemed to twitch and Tidus looked up then the other man fell to the floor on his hands and knees.

Tidus' eyes widened and she leapt off of the bike and ran towards Cloud. When he reached him he bent down, just as the other knelt up.

"Woah! Almost took my head off there!"

"Sorry..." His whisper was almost indistinguishable from the whistling wind.

"Hey. You ok?"

"I..." Cloud's mouth became a thin line and his eyes narrowed.

"Come on. I won't judged. And it's best to get your feelings out right?" Tidus pressed.

"I'm just...not ready." Cloud whispered

"Huh..." Tidus sighed. "Well, whatever. Let's move on yeah?"

"Right..."

"So...That your sword?" He tried to break the awkward atmosphere that was descending upon them, fast.

"No..." But Cloud just wasn't having it. Obviously.

"Oh...ok. When I first arrived here I saw it as well, I've been wondering whose it was."

"It belonged...to a friend..." Cloud hung his head slightly.  
>Tidus sighed. This place just seemed full of regrets.<p>

"Shall we go?"

Cloud nodded slowly and they walked back to Cloud's bike.  
>As he climbed on Tidus glanced behind him at the sword on the hill. To him it looked like a lonely soldier standing sentinel over the city.<p>

It was quite sad really.

There was a slight cough behind him and he turned round to see Cloud staring at him confusedly.

"Oh...sorry."

"You ready to go?" He tipped his head to one side slightly.

"Yeah."

And they roared away.

XXXOOOXXX

Yuna's head snapped towards the door even as Tifa was hauling Marlene back from running up the church aisle. Striding towards them was a thickset silver haired man in black.

"Where's mother?" The man said bluntly.

"There's nobody here!" Tifa raised her voice and hugged Marlene closer to her.

"Yuna...look after Marlene." Tifa pushed the little girl over to her and Yuna gave her a shaky smile, which was returned.

"K."

The man was still smirking at them. Both he and Tifa moved themselves into a battle stance.

"Heh...this should be fun." The man shot towards Tifa and she responded in kind.

Yuna gently guided Marlene round the side of a pillar, out of their way.

"Will Tifa be ok?" Yuna looked down and saw the little girl staring up at her, eyes wide and fearful.

"She should be fine..." She tried to comfort her.

The fight lasted about 5 minutes before they heard a large crash and all other sounds stopped.

"Tifa!" Marlene ran out to hug her. Yuna watched, smiling slightly.

But a mere 30 seconds later the peaceful scene had shattered. A bench from the back of the churche flew over their heads and crashed against a wall.  
>As they looked round in shock a strange jingle filled the air.<p>

The burly man from before stepped out of the rubble and pulled something out of his pocket. There was a beep and the music stopped.

"His PHONE!? At a time like this!?" Yuna couldn't believe it. How could this man be so nonchalant!?  
>The sound of his voice brought her back to reality.<p>

"Yeah, I'll bring the girl...Another? yeah she's here...oh...ok. Yep. I got it." The disjointed conversation mad Yuna nervous. He seemed so sure that he could win.  
>She watched as Tifa pushed Marlene away and engaged the strange man in battle again.<p>

Yuna wished that she could help her, but she didn't know if Tifa would appreciate that...plus poor Marlene was clutching to her skirt.

It was a couple of minutes later that they heard Tifa yelp. Marlene leapt up and ran to her, but the silver haired man shoved her back, growling,

"Just stay there, I'll be coming for you two in a minute, one I've dealt with her."

Marlene whimpered. Yuna stepped forwards to comfort her, they watched as the man stepped towards the fallen Tifa, who lay in the patch of beautiful flowers. He knelt down and grabbed the front of her over shit and pulled her up, simultaneously drawing his fist back. Yuna saw the energy crackling round it and she knew she had to do something.

"Wait!" The burly man turned round, grunting in annoyance. "I'll come with you! Just...just leave Tifa and Marlene alone!"

"No..." Tifa weak protest barely reached her.

"I'll leave this one alone...too much work to keep you quiet as well..." He took a step forward.

"What?" She stepped back as he loomed over her.

He just grinned.

XXXOOOXXX

Vincent stood at the edge of the city, staring into its depths. He didn't know how he was going to tell Cloud and the others what he had learned...but he must. Tseng's information would be very important if they wanted to stop DeepGround. l had come she noticed a few more droplets.

ick she noted that there wasn'n inder a chunk of wall, quite a large stain, making

A/N

Original: Sorry if there are weird formatting things on this chapter, dunno why but Word is screwing up *shrug*

So anyways, hope you enjoyed ^_^


	15. Chapter 14

Original: Hello peoples! This chapter is rather short I'm afraid and it jumps around everywhere, but it's necessary, believe me. I planned this chapter about 6 different ways, but this one helped the plot line along the best XD

Just as a reminder, XXXOOOXXX means a change of setting and character, OOO means a change of character (from whose third person POV) but in the same scene or setting and XXX means change of scene/setting but following the same character

So enjoy!

Edited: The end of the pre written chapters is upon us, so depending on how many people want this to be continued the updates will be few and far between.

Chapter 14:

Tidus looked up as the motorbike roared to a stop; they were outside Cloud's church.

"I thought we were gonna meet Yuffie and Rikku back at 7th Heaven."

"Oh, I just needed to pick something up first." Cloud muttered as he walked towards the building.

"I'll come help!" Tidus bounded up to Cloud who just looked at him before pushing open the door.

"Did it look like this last time?" The benches of the church were destroyed; a couple of pillars were broken as well.  
>Cloud merely continued into the church and didn't answer; a second later he let out a gasp.<p>

"What is it!?" Tidus ran towards Cloud who was kneeling in the flowers.

"Tifa! Tifa?" Cloud gently gathered her still body up in his arms, cradling her like a baby.

"You're...late..." She whispered.

"What happened!?" Cloud's voice was panicked and it wasn't a tone Tidus would have associated him with,

"I..." But Tifa didn't get any further as she fell unconscious whispering "Marlene..."

"Tifa!?" Cloud pulled his glove off and pressed his fingers too her neck, giving a sigh of relief when he found her heartbeat. He glanced around the rest of the church. "It's gone...Yuffie's gonna kill me..."

"Huh? What's gone? Is she ok?" Tidus leaned over Cloud's shoulder.

"She should be fine...and my Materia...it's gone..."

"Materia? Oh! Right!"

"We should take her back..." Cloud muttered and Tidus nodded as the older man moved to pick Tifa off of the floor. Cloud flinched as a searing pain blossomed and spread out along his arm, immobilising him, paralysing his chest as he keeled over.

"Hey! Cloud, hey! Damn it!" Tidus rushed over to him. "What happened!?" Cloud had just suddenly collapsed! What was going on?

"Ohhh...Spikey's not dead is he?" A cocky voice sounded behind them from the churche doorway. Tidus spun round, not expecting to see the two men from the complex they had previously visited. They had cleaned up considerably from before although the long haired one had a large bruise blooming on his forehead and the other had white bandages, stained slightly red, wrapped round one hand.

"No, he just collapsed!" Tidus threw his hands up. "I don't know what happened." Reno shrugged, not looking worried or even concerned.

"Eh...Spikey probably just had a date with Geostigma, yo." Tidus furrowed his eyebrows.

"You what?"

"Never mind." Reno sighed and shook his head, hands palm up and spread at his shoulders. "We actually came to talk to him, but I guess..." He shook his head again.

"We should take them back." The other man, Rude, stepped forward, Reno and Tidus nodded.

"Cloud's bike is outside, I can take him back on that...probably." He bit his lip nervously

"We'll take Spikey in the 'copter, you take Tifa, yo."

"Ok..." Reno and Rude came up next to Tidus, Cloud and Tifa and grabbed the shorter man, holding him between them.

"Geez! What has this guy been eating!?" Reno huffed as they shuffled out of the door. Rude smirked slightly.

"It's all the buckles!"

"The guy eats buckles!?" Tidus drowned out their further conversation, kneeling down next to Tifa. He reached out and brought his arms under her knees and rested her back on his other arm and stood up.

She was actually quite light and couldn't weigh much more than Yuna. He walked slowly out of the church and left Tifa slumped on the handle bars as he turned t watch the large, helicopter, he thought, take off and head towards Edge.

"...Why couldn't they take both of them!?" Tidus sighed, but climbed on behind Tifa's limp form and tried to remember how to work Cloud's machi—bike. Crashing on the way back would suck.

XXX

When Tidus arrived back at 7th Heaven Yuffie and Rikku were waiting for him, together they carried Tifa into the bar and up the stairs passing by the two other men, who had arrived back long before Tidus had.

"What happened!?" Yuffie asked as they manoeuvred Tifa into her bed.

"I don't know. She was like this when we, Cloud and I, arrived."

"So what happened to Cloud!?" Rikku gasped, pointing to him as he lay next to Tifa.

"He...he just collapsed." Tidus gulped. Yuffie's eyebrows furrowed and she looked at Cloud worriedly. "One second he was fine...the next..." He gestured to the still figure.

"Did you see Marlene when you found Tifa!?" Yuffie cried suddenly.

"What! No. There for no sign of her."

"Oh no... Denzel's missing as well..." Rikku bit her lip, concerned.

"There's definitely something fishy going on..." Yuffie sighed, hanging her head dejectedly.

"Yunie!" Rikku exclaimed "Did you find her!?" Tidus's heart plummeted further at the thought.

"No..." She was gone when we got there, the place was trashed." Rikku's face fell and Tidus swore that he could see the beginnings of tears pooling in her eyes.

"Definitely something going on." Yuffie muttered again.

They all jumped as a loud knock came from downstairs, no one moved for a while as they heard the sound of a door opening and muffled voices floated up the stairs. Soon the sound of footsteps joined the voices and a bright faced red head appeared round the door.

"Mr. Dark and brooding is here, you go talk to him we'll stay here with these two yp."

"Thanks..." Tidus was confused as to who Reno meant.

They all trudged down the stairs and when they rounded the corner, coming into the bar, Yuffie let out a loud squeal.

"VINNNIIEEE!" and she flung herself at the person there, obstructing Tidus' view of him. The stranger caught her and she hugged him tightly, although the man barely moved.

"Yuffie." He murmured simply. Yuffie pulled back from him and grinned slightly. Now that he had a good view of the newcomer Tidus was reminded of Auron. Except this man looked younger. By a lot.

"He looks like Auron." Tidus whispered to Rikku. She smiled at him

"He brought me here when I first got...here...his name's Vincent."

The man, Vincent, appeared to have heard, he turned slightly to face them. "Rikku." He nodded slightly at her, narrowed his eyes at Tidus and looked back down at Yuffie.

"Is Cloud in?" His low voice was almost a whisper but it made Yuffie freeze.

"Well..." She explained everything very quickly to Vincent whose expression become more and more stony.

"I see..." Vincent retreated to one of the tables and rested a finger on his mouth, deep in thought.  
>Yuffie ran to the bar and grabbed a few glasses, pouring water into them before bringing them over.<p>

All four of them sat at the table, thinking.

Who knew how long later, Reno poked his head out of the doorway (again).

"Spikey's away. Me and Rude gotta get back, yo. See you round." And he sauntered over to, and out of, the door. Rude following behind silently.

Vincent swept towards and up the stairs without saying a word. Tidus glanced at Rikku, who looked at Yuffie, who shrugged.

"That's Vinnie for ya."

XXXOOOXXX

Vincent leant on the door frame and coughed lightly, catching Cloud's attention.

"Vincent."

"Cloud." The terse greeting didn't seem so in the presence of these two...it seemed perfectly reasonable.

"Did you come for something specific?" Cloud blinked at him.

"I came to tell you something." Vincent stated calmly, the other frowned.

"Go on." So he told him about everything that Tseng had said. About DeepGroud and what they were planning on doing...and more importantly how they were planning on achieving it.

Cloud stared at him and although his face did not show any emotions his eyes gave away the panic he was feeling.

"What can...what can we do?" He murmured brushing his hand gently over Tifa's sleeping face.

"Fight them." Vincent blinked once, slowly and steadily.

"But we-"

"Cloud?" Tifa's voice raspily whispered and she fluttered her eyes open.

"Tifa?" Cloud bent down and stared at her. Vincent sighed.

"I'll...I'll leave you two...but...Cloud. Think about what I've said and...those two, keep an eye on them." Without waiting for an answer from him Vincent swept from the room.

OOO

"What was that about?" Tifa blinked confusedly at Cloud

"He...he just..." Cloud sighed and relayed Vincent's message.

"I see..." Tifa stared at the floor.

"What happened to you?" He turned to face her, eyes bright with worry.

So Tifa told her story.

"So he took Yuna and Marlene..." She whispered finally.

"..." Cloud's frown deepened. "What do they want?"

"It's obvious they're planning something."

"But what" He turned away from her again and faced the window.

"Cloud..." Tifa paused. "If...If they're killing all the Geostigma sufferers will you be safe?" Cloud stiffened visibly, his knuckles turning white as his gripped the window sill.

"I don't..."

"It's just...you're always protecting me...and the others...but what about yourself? We'll be safe this time. Please..."

No answer.

"Are you going to find them?" She asked quietly.

"Who?"

"Marlene! Denzel!"

"..."

"You can do more than one thing at a time you know!" Tifa snapped. "You can keep them safe and keep yourself alive. I know you can! We're a family and that's what families do!" She turned away from him and made her way out the door, "Or do you not believe that?" And downstairs.

XXXOOOXXX (Earlier)

"So both Denzel and Marlene are missing?" Rikku looked uncharacteristically grim.

"Yeah." Yuffie shared the expression.

"They must've taken Marlene when they fought Tifa...and taken Denzel before you two got back..." Tidus mused.

"What actually happened at the church?"  
>Tidus shrugged.<p>

"It's like I said before. I don't really know. Cloud and I arrived at the church and Tifa was already almost unconscious. We were about to bring her back but Cloud just passed out! Then Reno and Rude appeared. We brought them back here and that's all I know."

Rikku and Yuffie just stared at him.

"Oh and apparently they stole Cloud's Materia or something."

Yuffie scowled.

"Ch. Safe place. Right." She folded her arms and huffed.

"SO basically someone came along. Knocked Tifa out, stole Cloud's Materia and kidnapped Marlene? Why?" Rikku shook her head despairingly. Yuffie said nothing.

"I really don't know..." Tidus sighed.

XXXOOOXXX

"Don't you see? It's perfect!" He giggled. "We tell them a lie, get them to round everyone up and then we kill them in the end when they've done the hard work!" Kadaj threw his hands up

"But they'll kill them..." Yazoo murmured.

"A few less won't make much difference. We don't need that many." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Sounds like a plan then!" Loz exclaimed.

Marlene whimpered slightly and clutched Yuna's arm tighter.

"Shh...it's ok." She whispered. The leader heard and swung round grinning maniacally.

"Of course it is! Everything will be alright!" His grin turned into a sneer as he approached them. "Everything will be juuuuust fine."

XXXOOOXXX

They all looked up at the sound of rustling.

"Vinnie..." Yuffie said slightly sadly. Vincent didn't look round.

"I have to go..." And he swept from the room.

"Oh what are we to do!?" Rikku cried. Tidus completely agreed.

They sat in silence, agonising over the events of the past few days.

"Tidus, Rikku?" They heard Tifa's voice and turned. She wandered over and joined them at the table. Yuffie jumped up and got her a glass of water,

"I...I saw Yuna."

"WHERE!?" They cried simultaneously.

"She was at the church, but then a strange man came along and took her...and Marlene."

"Yunie..." Rikku whispered, her eyes wide and her hands over her mouth.

"I'm sorry..." Tifa hung her head.

"We'll fine her. We will." Tidus stated firmly. "We have to."

XXXOOOXXXX

They stood just outside the new city, preparing themselves to enter.

"It's not much is it?" The first shrugged and turned to the other who tilted his head to one side.

"Eh...I dunno. It's got a certain charm." He laughed. After a few moments the first man joined in.

"Charming enough for you?"

"A few fires here and there might help its case." He mused, tugging the brown cloak further up over his head.

"Don't make me regret coming and getting you." The first man said sternly.

"I'm joking! Oh, will the hero be meeting us anytime soon? I kind of want to apologise..." The hooded man said to his brunette companion. His eyes darkened and his head lowered slightly.

"He's dead..."

The man's eyes widened and he gasped.

"What? Did ShinRa tell you that!?" He asked angrily.

"No. They told me he was dead 7 years ago, but I knew he wasn't. Until I found the proper records..."

"But he was—"

"Which were dated over 4 years later." The man finished grimly.

"I can't believe that." He shook his head.

"I don't want to believe it."

"Well, we must get on then. There's some revenge that needs to be paid don't you think?"

A/N

Original: Ehhhh yeah. Before you bite my head off, remember I am taking certain liberties to make things more interesting =D

The next chapter will be a special extra chapter! It won't be part of the storyline, buuuuut, it is made of alternate endings to this chapter. It's rather amusing so I'd advise you to read it when it does appear!

Edit: I genuinely don't remember what next chapter was going to be so? Sorry about that. Anyway this is the last I have written, the next chapter I have about…300 words written from 2012 still, so I have no idea where my train of thought was going.

Also, looking at the dates for these last few chapters being written around Christmas 2012 I realise that was roughly when I went away for a week and came up with an idea for my own original story which I found much more rewarding to write than fanfiction. I am still writing that story and it is not available online, but if the audience is there I will continue this.

Review if you wish me to continue and I will update ASAP.


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